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23  WEST  MAIN  STRFfT 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  USaO 

(716)  872-4503 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


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Canadian  Institute  for  Historicai  IVIicroreproductions 


Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


1980 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliograptiiques 


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The 
tol 


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Oft 

filn 


D 


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Ori 
be( 
the 
sio 
otii 
firs 
sio 
or 


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D 
D 
D 
D 


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Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
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de  Tangle  supdrieur  gauche,  de  gauche  d  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  ndcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mdthode. 


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IN  THE  KLONDYKE 


INCLUDING  AN  ACCOUNT  OF 

A  WINTER'S  JOURNEY  TO  DAWSON 


BY 


FREDERICK   PALMER 


ILLUSTRATED 


CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 
NEW   YORK    1899 


0  o 


3 1.  7  h  1 


Copyright,  1899,  by 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


TROW  OmECTORV 

nilNTINO  AND  lOOKIINOINa  COMFANT 

MW  YORK 


CONTENTS 


I.    THE  START  FROM   DYEA 

Choosing  Comrades— Jack  Beltz  and  his  Dogs— Fritz  Gamble— From 
Sheep  Camp  to  the  Summit— Packing  over  the  Chilkoot  Pass— 
The  Halt  at  Lake  Linderman— A  Night  in  a  Sleeping  Bag— Coast- 
ing down  the  Frozen  Yukon— Half  Way  to  Dawson   .    .    Page  t 


II.     ON  THE  TRAIL 

Personalities— The  Forebears  of  Jack  and  Friiz— Good  Camp  Manners 
— Dog  Individuality— Dude-  The  Team  of  Huskies — Wayfarers 
at  Five  Fingers— Fort  Selkirk  and  Pelly— The  Thanksgiving 
Turkey  that  Did  Not  Get  to  Dawson— A  Diet  of  Flapjacks— Sub- 
urbs of  the  Klondyke  Capital— The  Passing  of  the  Trail .  Page  )6 


III.    DAWSON 

Social  Aspects  of  Dawson— Cornering  the  Tinned  Food  Market — 
Cheechawkos  and  Old-Timers  in  the  Early  Days     .    .    Page  6i 


IV.    THE  FIRST  DISCOVERIES 

The  Beginning  of  Mining  in  Alaska— Forty  Mile  Creek— Canadian 
and  American  Deposits— The  Largest  Log-Cabin  Town  in  the 
World— Life  of  the  First  Adventurers— The  Superfluity  of  Six- 
Shooters— Leaving  the  Latch-Strings  Out— The  Way  of  the 
Transgressors— Indian  Charley  and  his  Nugget   .    .    .    Page  66 

¥ 


CONTENTS 


V.     MINERS  AND  MINING 

Reaping  the  Gold  Harvest— Thawing  and  Sluicing— Miners  and  their 
Theories— The  Dome— Expensive  Timber— Empty  Poclcets  but 
Dollars  in  the  Dumps— The  First  Millionnaires— Color  in  the  Pan 
—Once  a  Prospector  Always  a  Prospector— Figuring  Fortunes 
—Capitalists  in  Demand— The  Forty  Happy  Kings  on  Eldo- 
rado   Page  8$ 


VI.    SOME  KLONDYKE  TYPES 

1  he  Fool  and  his  Lucky  Friends— More  Theorizers— Joe  Staley  and 
Billy  Deddering— French  Gulch  Bench— Good  Fortune  that 
was  Deserved— Neighbors  and  Twins— No  Cure  for  the  Gold 
Fever Page  iii 


VII.    GETTING  ACQUAINTED 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  "  Meenach  "  and  their  Menage— The  Juvenile  Mining 
Company,  Limited— Voss— The  Arch-Deacon— A  Sour-Dough 
Stif — A  Dalmatian  and  a  Turk— Siav/ash  George  and  his  Steam- 
Engine— Miss  Mulrooney  at  The  Forks — The  Price  of  a  "  Square  " 
with  1  rimmings Page  126 


VIII.    ARCTIC  TRAITS 

Daily  Life  in  Dawson— Renting  a  Cabin— Circumventing  the  Huskies 
— Joey  Boureau  and  his  Restaurant— The  Faro  Dealer's  Wife  and 
her  Bakery— The    Laundry  man  and   his  Claim — Jack  Beltz's 

Schemes— A  Pair  of  Dreamers Page  1$) 

vi 


CONTENTS 


IX.     PILGRIMS'  TRAILS  AND  TRIALS 

Itineraries — Alleged  Unimportance  of  Experience— Tlie  Case  of  Father 
Stanley— Press  Agents  and  Primers  of  Wealth— Tlie  Secretary  of 
the  Seattle  Chamber  of  Commerce  his  own  Convert— Pardners 
and  Promoters— Outfits— Home  Comforts  for  an  Arctic  Climate 
—Heterogeneous  Boat  Loads— The  Nancy  G— Tragedies  of  the 
Passes Page  163 


X.    PROFITS  AND  LOSSES 

Newspapers  as  Profit-Winners— Hearing  about  Dewey — A  Drop  in 
Eggs— Market  Items— Lemons  against  Scurvy— The  Mercury  at 
Ito  Degrees— An  Averted  Moving  Day— Industrious  Scavengers 
— The  Klondyke  Itself— Aspects  of  Summer — Bandanna  Hats  and 
Pink  Lemonade— A  Restaurant  Trust— The  Grasshoppers  and 
the  Ants— Disillusions Pags  181 


XI.    GOVERNMENT 

The  Canadian  Policy  in  the  Yukon  Province— Taxes  and  Fees— The 
Gold  Commissioner's  Office— Conflicts  between  Territorial  and 
Dominion  Governments— Timber  Grants  — The  Value  of  the 
Mounted  Police— The  Newly  Rich  at  Dawson— The  Order  of 
the  Yukon  Pioneers— Mrs.  Constantine Page  200 


XII.    DOWN  THE  YUKON   AND  HOME 

Good-By  to  Dawson — The  Extinction  of  the  Unfit — Steamboating  to 
St.  Michaels— Mosquitoes  and  Sandbars— Pilgrims  by  the  All- 
Water  Route— Behring  Sea— Civilization  Once  More  .  Page  212 


vU 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


The  Chilkoot  Pass 


Frontispiece 


"  Packing  "  Timber     . 

Pilgrims  Resting  on  the  CliiJkoot 

A  Halt         .  *       *       ■       ■ 

•       •       • 
Guiding  the  Team 

Borrowi,,,  .  Hi„.  from  I«-Bc«.s-J„s,  Above  Wl,i..  Horse 

Rapids  . 



Over  the  Bench  Ice  of  Thirty  Mile  River 

Crossing  a  Brook 

* 

•       •       .       . 

In  Camp— The  Dogs'  Porridge  . 
The  Fiist  Boats  . 

•  • 

A  Typical  Pilgrims'  Boat 

Yukon  Indians    . 

On  the  Creeks    . 

A  Flume  on  Bonanza  Creek 

Cleaning  Up        .       .       . 

Shovelling  a  Clean-Up  into  a  Gold  Pan 

The  Discoverers  of  French  Gulch  Bench  at  Work 


FACINii 
PACK 

.   8 
.   8 
.  14 
IS 


.  22 

.  26 
•  32 
.  40 
.  54 
.  66 
78 
88 
102 
108 
108 
124 


IX 


LIST  OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

PACING 
FAGS 

Pardners  and  Twins  for  Forty  Yeu.s i24 

Miss  Mulrooney  of  Tlie  Forks 142 

Jack  Beltz ^^g 

"The  Huskies" l^g 

On  the  Pass Ig^ 

Caches  of  Pilgrims'  Outfits  at  the  Summit       .       .       .       .172 
Bargaining  for  a  Newly  Arrived  Boat-Load,  Dawson        .       .  182 

In  the  Camps  of  the  Cheechawkos 188 

A  Yukon  Steamer 153 

The  Main  Street  of  Dawson 208 

A  Dawson  Good-By 214 


PACING 
PACK 

.  124 
.  142 

.  156 

.  156 

.  164 

.  172 

.  182 

.  188 

198 

208 

214 


IN   THE    KLONDYKE 


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IN   THE   KLONDYKE 


THE   START   FROM   DYEA 

Choosing  Comrades — ^Jack  Beltz  and  his  Dogs — Fritz  Gamble 
— From  Sheep  Camp  to  the  Summit — Packing  over  the 
Chilkoot  Pass — ^The  Halt  at  Lake  Linde^man — A  Night 
IN  A  Sleeping  Bag — Coasting  down  the  Frozen  Yukon — 
Kalf  Way  to  Dawson. 

ORIGINALLY,  I  had  intended  to  accom- 
pany our  Government  expedition  for  the 
relief  of  the  miners  of  the  Klondyke,  which 
was  in  part  mobilized  at  Dyea  when  I  arrived 
there  late  in  February.  As  it  never  went  any 
farther,  for  the  good  reason  that  Dawson  had 
been  rescued  from  famine  by  the  migration  of 
a  portion  of  its  population,  I  was  left  to  my 
own  resources.  Wholesome  fatigue  and  clean 
camps  on  the  snow  were  better  than  the  hos- 
pitality of  a  mushroom  town  built  of  rough 
boards  and  tar-paper;  a  little  adventure  was 
better  than  watching  for  two  months  the  thou- 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

bands  of  pilgrims  of  fortune  in  the  desperate 
and  monotonous  labor  of  putting  their  outfits 
over  the  passes ;  and  I  determined,  rather  than 
to  wait  with  them  for  the  opening  of  naviga- 
tion, to  undertake  with  dogs  and  sleds  of  my 
own  the  untried  journey  of  six  hundred  miles 
over  the  ice-fields  of  the  Lewes  lakes  and  the 
ice-packs  of  the  Yukon  River  which  the  Gov- 
ernment expedition  had  contemplated. 

Whoever  was  to  go  with  me  must  be  com- 
panionable, industrious,  and  loyal,  lest  in  pitch- 
ing a  tent  in  a  storm,  when  limbs  ached  from 
the  strain  of  the  day's  tramp,  an  unruly  temper 
might  lead  to  the  crisis  of  blows  or  separation. 
In  turn,  I  must  work  as  hard  as  he ;  for  we 
could  not  afford  to  carry  food  for  a  stomach 
that  nourished  idle  hands. 

Precisely  the  right  kind  of  comrade,  equipped 
with  experience,  I  had  hoped  would  be  f  >rth- 
coming  from  among  the  men  who  had  violated 
the  traditions  of  the  early  communities  of  gold- 
seekers  in  regard  to  winter  travel.  Some  mem- 
bers of  this  hardy  little  army  were  almost  daily 
arriving  in  Dyea.  But  their  dogs  were  worn 
out,  and  they  themselves  were  inclined  to 
laugh  at  my  suggestion,  more  particularly  at 
my  money.     Having  pointed  out  the  greater 


THE  START  FROM  DYEA 


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difficulties  of  ingress  than  of  egress,  they  asked, 
with  a  touch  of  sarcasm,  if  I  thought  that  they 
had  made  the  journey  out  from  Dawson  for 
the  purpose  of  immediately  retracing  their  steps. 

Meanwhile,  adventurous  spirits  but  lately  ar- 
rived from  Seattle  or  San  Francisco  came  to 
offer  their  services  with  all  the  self-confidence 
characteristic  of  a  floating  population.  The 
references  of  some  were  belied  by  their  de- 
meanor, and  the  demeanor  of  others  by  their 
references.  All  were  further  belied  by  their 
dogs — Newfoundlands,  setters,  and  what  not — 
which  had  received  a  few  days*  training  for 
market  purposes  in  Seattle.  In  consequence, 
I  was  almost  despairing,  when  I  was  accosted 
by  a  powerfully  built,  blond-haired,  blue-eyed 
fellow  who  impressed  his  personality  upon  me 
at  once. 

"  I  hear  you're  lookin*  for  a  dog-puncher," 
he  said,  awkwardly.  "  My  name's  Jack  Beltz. 
I've  been  a  cowboy,  and  done  a  good  many 
other  things  in  the  West,  and  now  I'm  up 
against  it  with  die  crowd  in  Alaska.  I  think 
I  could  do  what  you  want" — and  then  with 
sudden  fervor,  "  but  come  around  and  look  at 
the  dogs  !  If  the  dogs  are  no  good,  you  don't 
want  me.  that's  sure." 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 


"  Any  further  references  ?  " 

•*  Well,"  after  a  moment's  thought,  '*  there's 
Bangs,  up  at  the  Miner's  Rest.  He  knowed 
me  when  I  was  on  a  ranch  in  Nebrasky. 
Dunno  what  he'll  say.  You  can  ask  him, 
though.  Anyhow,  I'd  be  obliged  if  you'd  see 
the  dogs  'fore  you  make  a  decision." 

He  waited  outside  the  Miner's  Rest  while  I 
spoke  with  Bangs. 

"Jack  Beltz!"  exclaimed  Bangs.  "Well, 
Jack  Beltz's  a  fool  when  it  comes  to  bosses 
and  dawgs.  He  thinks  they  can  talk.  But 
Jack  Beltz'll  stick  to  a  thing  that's  hard — he 
don't  like  things  that  ain't — ^till  he  comes  out 
of  it  or  goes  down  with  it,  and  all  the  mules  in 
the  army  couldn't  make  him  mad." 

Then  I  followed  Jack  to  a  woodpile  in  the 
outskirts  of  the  town,  where  five  fat  and  sleek 
huskies  awoke  at  his  approach,  and  at  his  com- 
mand lined  up  like  so  many  soldiers,  wagging 
their  bushy  tails  over  their  backs  and  watching 
his  every  movement  with  their  sharp  eyes. 
From  their  mothers,  who  were  native  Indian 
dogs,  they  had  inherited  their  affection  for 
man,  however  poor  the  specimen,  and  from 
their  fathers,  who  were  full-blooded  wolves  of 
the  forest,  their  strength  and  endurance. 

4 


THE  START  FROM  DYEA 

In  an  hour  after  I  had  met  him  I  had  en- 
gaged Jack  Beltz  on  the  strength  of  the  fat  on 
his  dogs'  ribs,  of  his  blue  eyes,  and  of  Bangs's 
candid  recommendation.  Placing  my  theoret- 
ical knowledge  of  the  needs  of  an  arctic  climate 
against  his  experience  as  a  frontiersman,  we 
quickly  made  out  a  list  of  the  supplies  which 
were  to  be  packed  on  our  sleds,  minimizing 
everything  in  weight  and  bulk  as  far  as  we 
dared,  but  being  very  careful  to  consider  that 
while  we  might  go  hungry  the  dogs  must  not. 
In  all,  we  took  eleven  hundred  pounds,  four 
hundred  of  food  and  bedding  for  ourselves  and 
seven  hundred  of  food  for  the  dogs. 

Chance  made  the  choice  of  a  third  member 
of  the  party,  whose  assistance  was  necessary,  as 
happy  as  the  choice  of  its  second.  This  big  fel- 
low, over  six  feet  in  height,  was  Frederick 
Gamble,  known  to  his  friends  as  Fritz,  who 
had  given  up  a  career  as  an  artist  and  had 
already  spent  one  unprofitable  season  with  a 
pick  and  a  pack  in  the  Cassiar  district.  No 
pilgrim  accustomed  to  good  living  ever  ac- 
cepted a  diet  of  bacon  and  beans  with  better 
philosophy. 

It  was  already  the  i8th  of  March.  If,  as  the 
old-timers  said,  the  Yukon  became  impassable 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 


by  the  20th  of  April,  we  had  little  time  to 
spare.  There  was  much  in  our  surroundings 
on  the  day  of  our  departure  to  lend  credence 
to  their  opinion.  The  sun,  at  midday,  which 
turned  the  blue  of  the  little  glaciers  over  our 
heads  into  a  red,  united  with  the  wind  blowing 
from  the  ocean  to  thaw  the  snow  on  the  moun- 
tain sides.  In  the  many  places  where  the  winter 
trail  had  been  worn  down  to  the  sand  of  the 
flats  which  the  Dyea  River  overflows  in  the 
freshets  of  spring,  the  pilgrims  had  to  turn  off^ 
to  the  still  intact  but  spongy  ice  of  the  wind- 
ing little  stream  of  the  autumn  and  winter  to 
find  a  better  track  for  their  sleds. 

Canyon  City,  where  the  comparatively  level 
stretch  of  eight  miles  of  the  flats  is  at  an  end 
and  the  real  ascent  of  eight  miles  to  the  sum- 
mit of  the  Pass  begins,  had  grown  into  a  little 
village  with  three  saloons  since  I  had  last 
visited  it,  only  two  weeks  before.  Here  the 
river  is  a  thundering  cataract  in  spring,  dashing 
through  a  narrow  gorge  of  rocks  which  rise  to 
a  height  of  from  twenty  to  a  hundred  feet. 
The  sled  road  of  trodden  snow  with  a  basis  of 
ice  had  become  so  mush)'  that  the  men  who 
panted  forward,  dragging  their  sleds  and  asking 
with  their  eyes,  if  not  with  their  tongues,  for 


THE  START  FROM  DYEA 

a  hand  to  help  them  out  of  ruts,  were  wonder- 
ing whether  they  would  not  be  forced  to  take 
to  the  summer  trail  running  over  the  wall  of 
the  canyon  on  the  morrow. 

Beyond  the  canyon  was  a  community  of 
thousands  of  tents,  Sheeps  Camp,  a  halfway 
station  in  the  work  of  transportation  from 
Dyea  to  the  Summit  if  not  in  the  number  of 
miles.  It  had  doubled  if  not  trebled  in  popu- 
lation since  I  had  last  seen  it,  which  meant 
that  the  bulk  of  the  pilgrims  had  their  outfits 
this  far  on  their  journey.  I  slept  here,  the 
guest  of  some  friends  who  had  an  excellent 
bed  of  fir  boughs.  Before  I  was  up  I  knew 
that  the  day  on  the  Summit  was  fair  by  the 
tramping  of  the  packers  and  the  howls  of  the 
dogs  in  the  main  path,  or  street,  of  the  "  town." 
At  this  time,  most  of  the  days  on  the  Summit 
were  fair,  and  it  behooved  the  pilgrims  to 
make  the  most  of  them.  In  midwinter  it 
often  happened  that  intense  cold  and  a  fierce 
storm  of  fine  snow,  resembling  a  blizzard  in 
the  Dakotas,  made  the  Summit  impassable. 

The  series  of  steep  ascents  leading  from 
Sheep  Camp  to  the  base  of  the  final,  long, 
and  much  steeper  ascent,  called  as  a  whole 
by  the  pilgrims  the  Summit,  was  a  struggling 

7 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

line  of  men  and  dogs,  drawing  sleds,  and  of 
horses  with  packs.  Oaths  and  howls  were  so 
numerous  that  no  one  oath  or  howl  came  to 
the  ear  distinctly.  You  heard  only  noise,  as 
you  hear  an  uproar  of  individual  shouts  at  a 
national  convention.  In  the  early  days  the 
pioneers  had  given  to  the  little  plateau  at  the 
base  of  the  final  ascent  the  name  of  the 
Scales,  because  at  this  point  they  were  wont 
to  balance  their  packs  and  readjust  them  for 
the  last  grim  effort.  Beyond  this  neither 
horse  nor  mule  could  carry  nor  dog  could 
draw  a  load.  The  more  supple  animal  man 
took  his  place. 

If  you  would  see  the  Pass,  of  which  so 
much  was  written  when  so  little  was  known 
of  the  Klondyke  itself,  you  have  only  to 
imagine  a  broad  incline  at  an  angle  of  nearly 
forty-five  degrees,  seven  hundred  feet  in  height, 
running  between  two  snowy  peaks  at  its  sum- 
mit, with  men  in  the  foreground  bending 
under  the  weight  of  heavy  packs,  and  gradu- 
ally growing  smaller  as  they  ascend,  until, 
finally,  they  seem  like  ants  dangerously  near 
toppling  over  with  their  loads,  though,  to  your 
relief  and  amazement,  crawling  off  the  white 
blanket  into  the  sky. 

8 


Pilgrims  Resting  on  tlie  Chillcoot. 


lyour 
rh'ite 


"Packing"  Timber. 


V 


THE  START  FROM  DYEA 

In  the  hard,  well-packed  snow,  steps  had 
been  cut,  making  it  a  case  of  walking  up- 
stairs rather  than  of  climbing.  At  intervals, 
more  welcome  than  the  chairs  on  the  land- 
ings of  an  apartment  house  which  has  no 
elevator,  seats  had  been  cut.  Men  stepping 
out  of  the  slow-moving  line  found  rest  in 
these.  It  was  not  "  game  "  to  groan,  but  pur- 
ple faces  and  lungs  gasping  for  more  power 
for  bodies  quivering  with  excess  of  strain 
told  of  misery  that  was  felt  if  not  expressed. 
When  a  man  did  break  down  he  collapseH 
utterly,  and  sometimes  he  wept. 

Fifty  pounds  was  the  usual  weight  of  a 
pack  for  all  who  did  not  take  pride  in  ex- 
hibiting their  brute  strength.  These,  and  the 
professional  packers  who  bore  the  outfits  of 
pilgrims  who  could  afford  this  luxury,  often 
labored  under  a  hundred  pounds  or  more. 
The  hero  of  the  day  was  an  Indian.  He  took 
up  a  barrel  weighing  three  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds.  A  Swede  who  crawled  up  on  his 
hands  and  knees  with  three  six-by-four  timbers 
strapped  on  his  back  shared  honors  with  him, 
however.  The  descent  to  the  Scales  was  de- 
lightfully simple.  You  sat  down  and  tobog- 
ganed, using  your   heels   as  a  brake,  without 


T 


i  II 


1 

SI 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

any  unpleasant  results  if  you  had  well-riveted 
overalls. 

On  the  crest  were  piled  hundreds  of  pilgrims' 
outfits,  separated  one  from  another  by  narrow 
paths,  making  the  whole  seem  like  a  city  in 
miniature.  Buried  under  the  seventy  feet  of 
snow  which  had  fallen  during  the  winter  were 
two  other  such  cities,  which  their  owners  hoped 
to  recover  in  the  summer.  Beyond  floated 
a  large  British  flag  over  the  little  block-house 
where  the  British  Northwest  Mounted  Police 
had  established  themselves  to  collect  customs 
and  to  see  that  no  one  not  having  a  special 
permit  entered  Canadian  territory  with  less 
than  a  year's  supply  of  food. 

Jack  labored  for  two  hours  in  bringing  up 
the  dogs  with  the  empty  sleds,  while  our  goods 
came  on  the  backs  of  the  ants,  who  charged 
three  cents  a  pound  for  the  service.  Aside 
from  the  five  huskies  hitched  to  a  large  basket- 
sled,  we  had  two  St.  Bernards,  "  Patsy  "  and 
"Tim,"  who  were  born  in  the  country,  and 
duly  christened  and  acclimatized  there.  With 
"  Patsy "  and  "  Tim,"  and  my  hand  on  the 
"gee-pole"  by  which  the  sled  was  guided,  I 
went  under  fire  for  the  first  time  in  descending 
the  inland  side  of  the  pass.     Man  and  sled 

lO 


f 


THE  START  FROM  DYEA 

were  put  hors  de  combat  again  and  again,  while 
the  dogs,  who  managed  to  keep  erect,  looked 
back  on  me  with  professional  disgust.  I 
wanted  to  blame  my  misfortunes  to  my  moc- 
casins, but  Jack  wore  moccasins  as  well  and 
maintained  his  footing  easily.  Fortunately 
for  the  novice  there  are  three  small  lakes — 
at  the  time  they  were  three  fields  of  snow — 
in  the  nine  miles  from  the  Summit  to  Linder- 
man,  and  he  could  take  advantage  of  the  res- 
pite when  he  was  trotting  across  these  to 
think  out,  in  the  hard-and-fast  civilized  man- 
ner, how  to  avoid  his  frequent  loss  of  equilib- 
rium. 

We  spent  the  night  "at  home"  with  Jack 
in  his  own  camp  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Linder- 
man.  Jack  and  his  **  pardner  "  Cliff  had  been 
among  the  pilgrims  who  had  attempted  to 
reach  Dawson  in  the  same  summer  that  the 
news  of  the  great  *'  strike  "  was  received  by  the 
outside  world.  The  ice  formed  in  the  lakes 
and  rivers  before  they  could  build  their  boats, 
and  there  had  been  nothing  to  do  but  to  wait 
eight  months  until  the  ice  was  gone.  Once 
he  had  bought  a  team  of  dogs,  however.  Jack 
became  enamoured  of  making  the  journey  now 

at  last  before  him.     On  the  other  hand  nothing 

n 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 


III 


i 


apparently  had  disturbed  the  patience  of  Cliff, 
who  was  a  broad-shouldered  giant,  over  six  feet 
in  height.  The  pair  had  first  met  in  Seattle, 
formed  an  alliance  "  for  dust  or  bust,"  as  Cliff 
said,  and  had  thought  more  of  each  other  "every 
minute  ever  since."  Cliff  was  to  stay  at  Lin- 
derman  now,  but  their  alliance  was  resumed 
later  in  Dawson,  when  Jack,  Fritz,  and  I  dis- 
solved partnership. 

While  we  were  putting  our  outfits  straight 
and  Jack  was  writing  a  letter — from  his  sighs 
I  concluded  that  it  was  to  his  best  girl — Cliff 
cooked  flapjacks  and  fried  bacon,  sang  snatches 
of  what  had  been  the  latest  popular  songs  when 
he  left  Colorado,  and  talked  to  his  favorite  dog, 
a  Great  Dane,  who  was  as  scarred  as  a  veteran. 

"  Think  you're  going  to  be  slighted,  don't 
you,  Maje  ? "  he  rambled  on.  **  Froze  off  your 
ears  already,  ain't  you?  'Tain't  no  country 
for  short-haired  dogs,  is  it?  Don't  want  to 
lose  your  tail,  too.  No,  sir.  You're  going 
to  sleep  in  the  tent  same's  ever,  and  if  they 
don't  like  it  I'll  tell  you  'sickum,*  and  they 
won't  be  with  us  long." 

Major  curled  up  at  Cliff's  feet  as  usual  that 
night.  Inasmuch  as  he  had  a  snow-bath  when- 
ever he  was  caught  in  a  storm,  he  was  more 


13 


THE  START  FROM  DYEA 

agreeable  than  many  human  beings  whose 
bodies  had  not  touched  water  for  months. 

In  a  day  we  had  passed  over  the  only  por- 
tion of  our  journey  on  land,  and  we  were 
henceforth,  as  Jack  put  it  gayly,  to  proceed 
downhill  with  the  current  of  the  river  at  the 
rate  of  eight  inches  to  the  mile,  which  is  fast 
enough  as  currents  go,  but  rather  poor  coast- 
ing. The  course  of  the  Yukon  through  the 
heart  of  Alaska  is  in  a  semicircle,  with  one 
end  at  the  coast  and  the  othei  end  as  near  to 
the  coast  as  the  head-waters  of  a  stream  can 
be,  unless  it  flows  on  the  level.  Once  he  has 
reached  the  lakes,  the  prospector  may  float  for 
2,600  miles  to  Bering  Sea,  and  but  for  this 
one  of  the  two  friendly  deeds  of  nature  in 
Alaska — the  other  is  abundant  firewood — it  is 
questionable  if  the  gold  in  the  Klondyke  would 
have  been  discovered  in  our  generation.  De 
Soto's  exploring  party  would  have  had  a  similar 
advantage  if  the  Mississippi  had  risen  within 
thirty-two  miles  of  Cape  Hatteras,  and  they 
would  have  needed  it  if  the  valley  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi had  been  like  the  valley  of  the  Yukon. 

In  harnessing  our  dogs  at  dawn,  as  we 
looked  out  across  Lake  Linderman  from  Jack's 
camp,  the  only  color  in  sight  in  the  vast  ex- 

X3 


w 


m 


ii  I 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

panse  of  white  was  the  needle-like  fir-trees, 
cropping  through  the  snow  on  the  mountain- 
sides, and  the  outlines  of  a  few  pilgrims  in 
advance  of  the  main  body,  already  astir,  drag- 
ging their  sieds  on  to  Lake  Bennett,  where, 
with  whipsaws,  hammers,  nails,  oakum,  and 
pitch,  was  to  be  built  out  of  the  forests  the 
unique  and  variegated  flotilla  which  was  to 
line  the  river-banks  in  front  of  Dawson  in  May 
and  June.  Jack  snapped  the  long  lash  of  his 
whip,  shook  the  "gee-pole"  to  free  the  runners, 
cried  "  Mush  ! " — a  Saxon  contraction  of  the 
"  Marchons  /  "  brought  into  the  country  along 
with  many  other  words  by  the  French  Cana- 
dians— and  seven  gallant  four-footed  com- 
rades and  three  figures  in  parkees  looking  like 
hooded  night-shirts  began  in  earnest  their 
journey  over  the  trail  hardened  by  the  pil- 
grims' footsteps.  By  the  wayside  we  passed 
caches  of  waterproof  bags,  one  of  them  at 
either  end  of  a  pilgrim's  route  of  daily  toil  in 
moving  his  outfit  forward  by  relays,  his  own 
ambition  making  him  undergo  longer  hours 
and  greater  strain  than  he,  a  free  citizen 
(U.  S.  A.),  would  have  endured  for  any  other 
master. 

Linderman  is  only  four  miles  long,  and  we 


of  the 
along 
Cana- 

com- 
y  like 

their 

pii- 

Dassed 
m  at 
oil  in 
own 
nours 
tizen 
other 

d  we 


THE  START  FROM  DYEA 

were  soon  on  Bennett,  where  the  afternoon 
brought,  in  sharp  contrast  to  the  keen  atmos- 
phere of  the  morning,  a  blowing  storm  of 
moist  snow  which  wet  us  to  the  skin.  When 
Jack  halted  the  dogs  for  our  first  and  our 
worst  camp,  whose  only  consolation  was  a 
water-hole  that  had  been  made  by  some  pil- 
grim, they  set  up  a  howl  of  knowing  delight. 

With  the  snow  up  to  my  waist  I  cut  fire- 
wood out  of  the  abundance  of  dead  timber, 
and  then  cut  green  spruce-boughs,  which,  when 
laid  tufts  upward  on  the  snow  that  was  packed 
down  as  a  floor  for  our  seven-by-seven  tent, 
made  a  soft  bed.  Then  I  went  for  a  pail  of 
water  and  brought  in  my  sleeping-bag,  and  my 
work  was  done.  The  air  had  cleared  suddenly, 
and  the  weather  had  turned  so  cold  that  my 
parkee  had  frozen  as  stiff  as  a  board.  I  pulled 
it  off,  substituted  dry  moccasins  and  socks  for 
my  wet  ones,  left  the  rest  of  my  clothes  to  be 
dried  by  the  warmth  of  my  body,  and  then, 
huddling  myself  up  with  my  sleeping-bag  as  a 
seat,  I  watched  my  comrades  finishing  their  al- 
lotted tasks. 

Fritz,  who  had  been  chosen  cook,  was  sitting 
with  one  leg  on  either  side  of  the  little  sheet- 
iron  stove,  smOicing  a  cigarette  and   making 

15 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 


Mi 


flapjacks.  Outside,  by  the  light  of  the  crack- 
ling blaze,  I  could  see  Jack  stirring  something 
in  a  pan  over  a  roaring  fire  with  a  big  ladle 
that  he  had  whittled  out  of  a  sapling.  Weirdly 
presiding  over  this  operation,  their  bodies  in 
shadow  and  their  wolf-noses  thrust  forward 
with  epicurean  relish,  were  the  huskies.  Jack 
fed  them  only  once  a  day,  but  then  all  that 
they  could  eat  of  tallow,  bacon,  cornmeal,  and 
rice,  thoroughly  boiled  in  the  form  of  a  por- 
ridge. When  he  took  the  pan  off  the  fire  he 
put  it,  safely  covered,  in  the  snow  to  cool, 
while  the  dogs  mounted  guard  over  it,  glaring 
at  one  another ;  and  then  he  came  to  sit  on  his 
own  bed,  and  together  we  ate  by  the  light  of  a 
candle  hanging  by  a  piece  of  wire  from  the 
top  of  the  tent.  As  I  had  my  granite-ware 
plate  filled  with  beans  the  second  time  and 
took  my  fourth  flapjack — a  flapjack  an  inch 
thick  and  seven  inches  in  diameter — a  twinkle 
came  into  Jack's  eyes. 

"  I  like  to  see  a  man  in  earnest,"  he  said. 

Then  he  relighted  his  pipe  and  went  back  to 
his  dogs.  Having  filled  a  two-quart  tin  pan 
for  each  of  them,  with  the  ardor  of  a  child  he 
heaped  more  timber  on  the  dying  fire,  and, 
turning  his  back  to  the  cheerful  glow,  began  a 

x6 


THE  START  FROM  DYEA 

technical  conversation  on  the  state  of  the  trail 
with  sleek  old  Dude,  the  leader  of  the  team. 

Later,  when  he  returned  to  the  tent,  the  dogs 
were  so  many  balls  of  fur,  their  noses  snuggled 
under  their  bushy  tails.  If  two  feet  of  snow 
had  fallen  during  the  night  it  would  not  have 
disturbed  the  serenity  of  their  slumbers,  and  in 
the  morning  at  the  call  to  harness  they  would 
have  dug  their  way  out  and  shaken  themselves 
ready  for  duty.  Jack  explained,  as  he  pulled 
off  his  moccasins,  that  they  had  eaten  only  half 
their  usual  rations.  Having  been  treated  to 
beefsteak  in  Dyea  by  their  generous  owner, 
they  rather  resented  marching  fare;  but  they 
would  come  down  to  it  as  soon  as  they  felt  the 
pangs  of  hunger,  he  added. 

"  Are  you  tired  ?  "  I  ?sked  him. 

"  Me  ?     No,"  he  drawled. 

He  filled  up  the  stove — he  must  always 
have  a  fire  of  some  kind  going — and,  leaning 
back  on  his  robe,  his  hands  behind  his  head, 
he  looked  up  at  the  top  of  the  tent  dreamily. 
He  was  still  in  this  attitude  when  I  crawled 
into  my  sleeping-bag  and  quickly  fell  asleep. 
The  sleeping-bag  did  well  enough  for  that 
night,  but  I  soon  repented  of  it.  With  no  op- 
portunity for  airing  it  properly,  it  soon  collect- 

tf 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 


1  i 


It 


I 


",|; 


ed  moisture  and  became  as  a  uncomfortable  as 
a  coating  of  ice.  After  I  had  been  kept  awake 
for  a  night  by  the  colder  weather  that  followed 
the  storm,  I  ripped  it  open  and  used  the  furs  as 
a  robe,  which,  with  the  assistance  of  a  heavy 
blanket,  kept  me  as  warm  as  toast,  though, 
when  I  awoke,  there  was  a  glacial  path  through 
the  space  I  had  left  open  for  breathing.  The 
wonder  to  me  was  that  Jack  did  not  freeze  his 
nose — it  was  a  large  nose — for  he  always  slept 
with  his  head  completely  outside  of  his  cover- 
ings, his  beard  becoming  as  white  with  ice  as 
that  of  Father  Christmas. 

"  Blister  me  if  I  want  to  smother !"  was  his 
explanation. 

The  first  one  to  awake  in  the  morjiing 
crawled  half-way  out  of  his  robe,  and,  dexter- 
ously leaning  over,  put  the  coffee-pot  on  the 
stove  and  made  the  fire  out  of  the  kindlings 
which  were  always  ready.  To  dress  was  to  put 
on  your  footwear,  which  had  been  drying — if  it 
had  not  been  burning — before  the  stove.  Then 
the  robes  and  blankets  were  rolled  up  and 
strapped  to  serve  as  seats  for  breakfast,  and  you 
stepped  outside  into  the  invigorating  air  and 
did  what  you  might  in  the  way  of  cleanliness. 
For  my  part,  I  washed  my  hands  in  the  snow, 

i8 


table  as 
awake 
)llowed 
furs  as 
heavy 
hough, 
trough 
The 
eze  his 
s  slept 
cover- 
ice  as 

^as  his 

Drjiing 
[exter- 
►n  the 
dlings 
:o  put 
—if  it 
Then 
»   and 
d  you 
r  and 
iness. 
mow, 


THE  START  FROM  DYEA 

using  soap  liberally,  with  astonishingly  effica- 
cious results.  After  breakfast  we  had  to  pack 
all  the  things  that  we  had  unpacked  the  night 
before  back  on  the  sleds  and  lash  them. 

On  the  Lewes  lakes,  and  the  streams  which 
join  them  in  a  chain,  one  day  was  quite  like 
another,  with  the  exception  of  a  single  event  of 
importance  to  ourselves.  At  daybreak  we 
were  on  the  level  trail,  now  trotting  and  then 
walking,  until  our  stomachs  cried  a  halt.  On 
three  occasions  we  had  luncheon  in  the  tents 
of  pilgrims  who,  not  having  been  able  to  bring 
their  supplies  over  the  pass  in  the  rush  of 
the  previous  autumn  before  winter  was  at 
hand,  were  making  for  the  foot  of  Lake  Le 
Barge  to  take  advantage  of  the  three  weeks  by 
which  the  clearing  of  the  ice  in  the  river 
precedes  the  clearing  of  the  ice  in  the  lakes. 
While  his  partner  was  dragging  his  sled,  one  of 
our  hosts  was  suffering  in  his  tent  the  torture 
of  snow-blindness  as  the  penalty  of  having 
gone  for  a  day  without  glasses.  Another  host, 
an  old  Dane  from  San  Francisco,  had  no  com- 
panion, not  even  a  dog. 

"  Sometime  I  do  get  mad,"  he  said,  "  when 
the  sled  pull  so  hard,  and  I  say,  '  Yohn,  you 
are  a  big  fool  to  start  for  Klondyke  when  you 

19 


ll     I 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

are  sixty-nine.*  But  we  do  not  like  to  gif  up. 
Nefer  do  we  get  so  old  we  tank  it  too  late  to 
make  a  fortune.  If  a  man  know  as  he  would 
drop  dead  on  top  of  the  Pass,  I  tank  a  man 
go  on  to  see  the  t'ing  out.  I  make  a  fortune 
t'ree  time,  and  efery  time  I  haf  many  pad  lucks 
— ^yes,  very  many  pad  lucks.  Sometime  I  get 
lonely,  and  then  I  say,  *  Yohn,  there  is  your 
wife,  there  is  your  shildren ;  it  is  Sunday  din- 
ner, and  you  are  home  with  a  pile  of  gold.*  '* 

How  we  relished  the  one  rapidly  diminishing 
ham  that  we  had  brought  with  us  for  our  first 
luncheons,  followed  by  the  perfect  relaxation 
which  comes  with  good  digestion  and  physical 
fatigue,  glorified  by  a  pipe,  before  we  arose 
and  turned  our  steps  toward  the  brown  line 
of  sled-track  which  stretched  out  over  the  ex- 
panse of  white  until  growing  darkness  made 
it  dim,  and  Jack  began  to  look  out  for  the 
first  favorable  place  for  a  camp  ! 

At  this  time  it  was  reported  that  a  great 
"strike"  of  $2.50  to  the  pan  had  been  made 
on  Walsh  Creek,  a  tributary  of  the  Yukon 
near  Big  Salmon.  The  rumor  afterwards 
turned  out  to  be  an  exaggeration — only  thirty 
cents  a  pan  being  the  amount  actually  found, 
which  had  grown  as  it  travelled  up  the  lakes. 


THE  START  FROM  DYEA 

Many  of  the  pilgrims,  among  them  ourselves, 
who  already  had  their  year's  supply  of  food 
over  the  Pass,  and  some  who  had  not  but  were 
able  to  elude  the  police,  leaving  their  caches 
in  charge  of  friends,  put  a  tent,  half  a  side  of 
bacon,  a  few  quarts  of  flour,  and  a  few  quarts 
of  beans  on  a  sled  behind  v  lean  house-dog, 
and  hastened  toward  Walsh  Creek  without 
regard  to  fatigue  or  exposure.  A  sallow  and 
swarthy  Quixote  who  had  not  made  even  this 
provision  for  his  stomach  and  none  for  his 
back  except  a  small  blanket,  called  upon  us 
one  morning  when  we  were  at  breakfast.  Be- 
fore he  asked  for  something  to  eat  he  intro- 
duced himself  as  a  Cuban  who  had  been  a 
cook  in  New  York,  but  had  concluded  to  be 
a  cook  no  more  now  that  fortunes  were  to  be 
had  for  a  little  hard  travelling. 

"  You  see,  gents,"  he  further  explained,  as- 
suming a  serene  air  of  fellowship,  *'  I've  been 
walking  at  night  so's  to  get  past  the  police 
stations.  They  won't  let  a  feller  by  when  he 
ain't  got  any  grub.  If  I  carried  grub  I'd  be 
too  late  for  the  strike,  mebbe." 

*•  But  you'll  observe,  I'm  thinkin',"  Jack 
suggested,  •*  that  hotels  are  few  and  far  between 
in  this  region." 


m  n 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

"Oh,  rii  manage  to  get  on  somehow. 
There'.«=^  a  lot  of  luck  in  this  world  if  you  dodge 
about  so  it'll  hit  you.  I  didn't  know  where 
I'd  get  my  breakfast,  but  I've  got  it,   that's 


>» 


sure. 

He  wished  us  much  happiness,  put  his 
blanket  on  his  back,  and  walked  on  as  uncon- 
cernedly as  if  he  had  a  whole  baggage  train  at 
his  heels.  But  this  was  not  until  he  had  sug- 
gested with  the  aplomb  of  the  Bowery  that 
we  would  do  well  to  take  him  on  as  a  **  pard- 
ner."  What  became  of  him  I  do  not  know. 
Possibly  his  body  lies  among  a  pile  of  drift- 
wood on  some  sandbar  in  the  river.  On  the 
other  hand,  !  should  not  be  surprised  to  see 
him  one  day  on  Broadway,  a  huge  diamond  in 
his  shirt  bosom  and  a  blond  lady  on  his  arm, 
or  to  read  an  account  of  him  ir  a  newspaper 
under  the  head  of  "  From  Cook  to  Million- 
aire." 

The  Walsh   Creek    digression   caused   two 

wee!,:s  delay  at  a  time  when  we  felt  the  need 

of  every  day  to  complete  our  journey,  and  I 

accept  the  awkward  responsibility  for  it.     At 

White    Korse   Canyon  we   were    offered   the 

hospitality  of  a  large  cabin  with  a  kitchen  in 

one  end  and  bunk-room  in  the  other,  occupied 

ft 


usssaa  -jccsaEKxstsaPBK^raaMi 


n 


"S. 


o 


> 

o 


I 

c/l 
I 


r! 

C 

o 


II  . 


WW 


THE  START  FROM  DYEA 

by  some  workmen  engaged  in  building  a  tram- 
way around  the  rapids.  Jack  suggested  that 
we  stop  here  for  a  day  because  the  dogs  needed 
rest,  he  said,  but  really  on  my  account,  I  think. 
I  had  contracted  a  bad  cough,  and  m>  legs 
ached  like  two  great  teeth.  In  the  afternoon 
I  lay  down  on  the  cook's  bunk,  and  toward 
evening  Fritz  started  down  the  trail  to  a  dis- 
tant camp  to  find  a  doctor  who  had  turned  pil- 
grim of  fortune.  Meanwhile  Jake,  the  cook, 
dosed  me  with  tea  made  of  sage  that  he  had 
gathered  on  the  mountain-side. 

"Your  pulse  is  up  to  a  hundred  and  ten," 
the  doctor  said;  "but  all  that  you've  got  is  a 
plain,  old-fashioned  case  of  measles.  You 
must  have  caught  them  in  Dyea,  and  you've 
greatly  exaggerated  them  by  physical  strain." 

My  comrades  put  up  a  tent  in  another  cabin 
which  still  wanted  doors  and  windows,  thus 
ensuring  a  soft  light  for  the  protection  of  my 
eyes,  which  the  doctor  feared  might  be  af- 
fected. They  nailed  some  saplings  together 
for  a  bedstead,  and  were  so  ingenious  in  many 
ways,  so  kind  in  keeping  the  temperature  the 
same  night  and  day,  and  in  attending  to  my 
wants  generally,  that  I  felt  like  a  king  in  his 

private  hospital.     Jake  came  in  every  day  to 

23 


.III! 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

make  sure  that  I  was  taking  the  doses  of  sage- 
tea  that  he  sent  in  morning,  noon,  and  night ; 
while  the  big  workmen  came  in  to  hint  that  I 
must  not  let  Jake  have  his  own  way  too  much. 
And  I  lay  on  my  back  and  thought  of  two 
things — strawberries  and  pineapples.  I  would 
have  given  all  my  wealth  for  either — but  not  a 
five-cent  piece  for  a  pear. 

My  convalescence  was  not  so  dull  as  I  sat  on 
a  bench  in  the  kitchen,  learning,  under  Jake's 
tutelage,  how  to  cook  oatmeal  properly,  how 
to  bake  bread  and  to  make  good  pies  out  of 
dried  apples,  and  listening  to  him  expound  his 
ideas  of  the  world.  He  was  a  great  cynic.  If 
you  believed  in  one  thing,  he  was  sure  to  be- 
lieve irv  another.  One  of  his  favorite  remarks 
with  which  he  baited  me  was  that  "  everybody 
is  out  for  the  stuff  ;  there  ain't  .10  honor  now- 
adays ;  and  you  don't  catch  me  missin'  no 
(ioUars."  His  boarders  excused  him  by  saying, 
"  Any  cook  that's  been  in  a  minin'-camp  or  a 
lumber-camp  is  always  a  blisterin*  crank."  On 
the  morning  of  my  departure  I  held  out  a  bill 
to  Jake  in  partial  remuneration  for  what  he 
had  done  for  me.  He  stirred  the  contents  of 
his  pot  this  way  and  that,  viciously,  without  re- 
plying.    I  protested,  and  then  he  growled : 


THE  START  FROM  DYEA 

*  Gwan  !     What  d'ye  take  me  for?" 
As  I  waved  him  a  good-by  he  called  out : 
•*  Young  feller,  you're  all  right,  but  you  won't 
argue." 

In  two  days  we  were  at  the  foot  of  Lake  Le 
Barge,  and  on  the  second  of  these  we  had 
travelled  thirty-five  miles,  which  made  the  dogs 
very  unfit  for  service  on  the  day  following. 

So  all  of  another  two  days'  hard  work  was 
requ'red  to  go  from  the  foot  of  Le  Barge  to 
the  junction  of  the  Hootalinqua  over  a  por- 
tion of  the  Yukon  known  from  its  length  as 
Thirty  Mile  River,  and  certainly  worthy  of  some 
distinction  on  account  of  other  characteristics. 
Many  more  boats  of  the  pilgrims'  flotilla  were 
wrecked  in  the  spring  on  its  hidden  rock«;  than 
in  the  White  Horse  Rapids,  which,  I  may  add, 
have  received  undue  celebrity.  If  an  average 
temperature  of  thirty  degrees  below  zero  con- 
tinues for  several  weeks,  the  current  may 
freeze  over,  but  rarely  is  there  more  than 
bench  ice  along  the  shores;  and  this,  owing 
to  the  'ncreasingly  moderate  weather  and  the 
falling  water,  was  fast  breaking  away  in  huge 
cakes,  which  fell  into  the  stream  with  a  splash. 
Over  that  which  remained,  slippery,  sometimes 

sloping   toward    the    river    at   a   considerable 

25 


T 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

angle,  and  often  only  a  foot  or  two  in  breadth, 
we  must  make  our  way.  When  there  was  no 
footing  below  the  sled,  we  attached  one  end 
of  a  rope  to  it,  wrapped  the  other  end  around 
our  waists,  and  if  one  of  us  slipped  and  fell 
in  the  soft  snow  of  the  steep  hill-side  above, 
luckily  the  others  maintained  their  hold  and 
were  able  to  prevent  both  sleds  and  dogs  from 
going  into  the  river  and  putting  an  end  to  our 
little  expedition  there  and  then. 

There  was  only  one  accident,  and  that  not 
alarming.  Fritz  thought  that  he  did  not  need 
our  help  to  bring  the  St.  Bernards  over  a 
place  that  the  big  sled  had  safely  crossed  with 
Jack's  back  and  mine  against  it  and  with  the 
heavy  steel  prongs  strapped  to  the  heels  of  our 
boots  dug  into  the  ice.  We  heard  a  cry  of 
"  Hurry  up  !  This  is  cold  ! "  and  looked  around 
to  see  Fritz  standing  in  a  shallow  eddy  up  to 
his  waist,  his  parkee  blown  up  about  his  head 
like  a  veritable  balloon,  while  he  braced  him- 
self against  the  sled.  "  I  had  to  jump  in  to 
save  our  bedding,"  he  said.  We  hurried  on 
the  faster  so  that  he  might  keep  his  blood  in 
circulation,  and  he  merely  took  the  trouble  to 
change  his  socks  when  we   made  a  camp  on 

a  fairly  comfortable   ice-cake,  after  having  as- 

26 


i--* 


nm 


{;■ 


> 


o 


c 
03 


> 

o 


i' 


I' 


•ts^s>9Sismmmmimm 


THE  START  FROM  DYEA 

sured  ourselves  that  it  would  not  float  away 
with  us  during  the  night. 

Near  the  Hootalinqua  the  current  slackens, 
and  we  crossed  where  the  stream  was  com- 
pletely frozen  over.  Above  us  was  a  great  jam 
of  cakes  that  had  floated  down,  some  of  which 
rumbled  under  our  feet,  came  out  in  an  open 
place  below,  and  then  went  on  to  form  another 
jam.  A  few  minutes  later  there  was  a  boom 
and  our  bridge  moved  downstream  with  the 
noise  of  a  medley  of  bass  drums.  At  noon  on 
this  day  the  sun  had  made  the  trail  so  soft  that 
we  sank  into  it  up  to  our  knees.  We  halted  a 
little  later,  determined  to  start  at  one  o'clock 
in  the  morning  and  take  advantage  of  the 
crust  frozen  during  the  night ;  and  we  had 
what  seemed  at  the  time  the  good  fortune  to 
put  up  in  a  cabin  which  had  been  abandoned 
by  the  mounted  police.  Having  had  an  early 
dinner,  we  were  thinking  of  bed  at  six  o'clock 
when  two  ragged  men,  their  faces  blackened 
by  cooking  over  camp-fires,  came  in.  They  sat 
down,  and  when  they  had  eaten  with  the  heart- 
iness of  famished  beings  some  things  that  we 
had  left  on  the  table,  one  of  them,  whom  his 
companion  called  "  the  Doctor,"  became  ex- 
planatory : 

27 


J 


Ill     '  <' 

i' 


ii 


f  ■ 


1'^ 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

'•  You  mustn't  mind  our  appetites,"  he  said. 
We've  just  come  from  Dawson.  My  pardner 
there,  Yukon  Bill,  hain't  been  out  of  the 
country  for  eight  years.  Go  easy  there,  Bill ! 
Your  manners  are  bad." 

"  Shut  up !  "  roared  Bill,  looking  as  wild  as 
a  hungry  lynx. 

"Oh,  he  ain't  as  crazy  as  Jim,"  continued 
the  Doctor.  "Jim  was  a  sight  uglier  *n  Bill, 
an'  you  can  see  what  Bill  is.  He  took  his 
share  of  the  bacon  on  his  back  an'  started  out 
for  himself  this  mornin'." 

'*  No  packin'  fer  me !  We  kept  the  dogs, 
you  bet,  by ,"  put  in  Bill  through  a  mouth- 
ful. 

Jim  arrived  three  hours  later.  Without  pay- 
ing any  attention  to  the  presence  of  other 
persons,  he  dropped  his  pack  as  if  it  were  of 
lead,  fell  down  on  the  bench,  pushed  back 
his  unkempt  hair,  and  looked  vacantly  at  the 
stove. 

"  Hello,  Jim,  you  loon  !"  the  Doctor  called 
out.  "  As  long's  we've  said  quits,  I  ain't  goin' 
to  be  mean.     Have  one  of  our  flapjacks ! " 

'•  Eat  yer  own  dirt,"  replied  Jim.  "  I  kin 
cook,  an*  I've  got  just  as  much  right  in  this 
cabin  as  you   have."      And  Jim   put    a   skil- 


THE  START  FROM  DYEA 


let  with  a  piece  of  dirty  bacon  in  it  on  the 
stove. 

'•  Don't  push  my  pan  off  there,  you  eight- 
footed  elephant ! "  cried  the  Doctor. 

Jim  lifted  his  skillet  and  turned  on  the  Doc- 
tor. Then  he  set  the  skillet  down  again  with 
the  action  of  one  who  is  too  tired  for  further 
effort,  and  fell  back  onto  his  seat. 

"  You  Siawash  sons  of  the  devil,"  he  said  be- 
tween his  teeth,  '*  if  I  ever  git  my  strength  on 
the  outside  I'll  lick  both  on  ye  till  ye  bawl  like 
a  calf."  And  brushing  back  his  hair  again  he 
added,  in  a  protesting  voice,  after  a  moment's 
luse  :  •*  I  kin  do  it,  too ! " 

"  Bully  old  Jim  ! "  observed  the  Doctor. 

It  was  plain  enough  that  the  minds  of  all 
three  of  our  visitors,  especially  Jim,  had  been 
affected  by  the  hardships  that  they  had  endured 
on  their  long  tramp,  with  only  snow,  trees, 
dogs,  and  their  own  quarrels  for  companion- 
ship. Most  of  these  grim  travellers  whom  we 
met  coming  out  from  Dawson — now  and  then 
one  was  limping  from  scurvy — had  neither  tent 
nor  stove,  quite  inadequate  robes,  no  dishes 
except  skillets  and  cups,  and  no  food  except 
bacon,  flour,  and  beans,  and  not  always  beans. 

Earlier  in  the  winter  they  put  up  a  barrier  of 

29 


,1 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 


boughs  against  the  wind,  and  slept  between  two 
great  fires,  kept  up  by  the  member  of  the  party 
whose  night  it  was  to  watch. 

At  eleven  o'clock  the  Doctor  stopped  talk- 
ing, and  we  slept  for  half  an  hour,  only  to  be 
awakened  by  the  arrival  of  another  equally 
worn-out  party,  and  almost  the  last  one  from 
Dawson  that  we  met.  By  the  time  we  were 
fairly  asleep  again  these  tired  beings  set  the 
cabin  on  fire,  and  Jack,  in  his  good-natured 
way,  put  the  flames  out  for  them. 

At  daylight  I  was  awakened  by  Fritz,  who 
was  grumbling  to  himself  about  the  audacity 
and  the  stomachs  that  some  people  must  have. 
I  arose  to  see  him  looking  into  two  empty  pails 
which  he  had  left  full  of  apple-sauce  and  beans. 

"  I  was  hungry  as  a  dog  in  the  night,"  the 
Doctor  explained,  a  little  later,  *'  and  I  couldn't 
help  it." 

Fritz  replied  by  looking  daggers  at  him. 
Then  the  Doctor  offered  a  pair  of  snow-shoes 
to  Fritz  as  an  olive  branch. 

"  If  I  thought  that  what  you've  eaten  would 
make  you  downright  sick,  I'd  take  'em,"  said 
Fritz. 

"  Twon't,"  replied  the  Doctor,  in  all  honesty. 

"  Nothin'  makes  me  sick."     And  he  gave  the 

30 


■wiiiiiiriiiTIHiiiii 


THE  START  FROM  DYEA 

snow-shoes  to  Jack,  whose  eyes  were  twinkling 
in  appreciation  of  the  conversation. 

As  we  started  out,  five  or  six  hours  later 
than  we  had  planned,  we  resolved  to  eschew 
cabins  hereafter.  We  had  not  done  a  half- 
day's  work  when  a  heavy  wet  snow  set  in, 
and  the  condition  of  the  dogs  compelled  us 
to  rest. 

"  Wear  'em  out,"  said  Jack,  "and  it's  all  up, 
anyway.  We'll  boil  some  beans  and  lay  up 
some  sleep  ahead  against  a  freeze." 

Accordingly,  drgs  and  men  slept  for  thirteen 
hours. 

So  slight  was  the  freeze  at  night  that  the 
sun,  now  rising  at  four  o'clock,  soon  thawed 
the  crust.  The  Big  Salmon  was  already  open, 
its  current  destroying  the  trail  and  leaving  a 
field  of  slush  with  many  places  too  deep  for 
passage  for  a  distance  of  five  or  six  miles,  which 
was  as  wearing  on  the  dogs  as  a  full  day's  jour- 
ney under  ordinary  circumstances.  We  only 
hoped  that  the  Big  Salmon  was  alone  in  its 
enmity  to  our  plans,  for  once  the  ice  is  out  of 
the  tributaries,  the  ice  in  the  Yukon  cannot 
last  long.  It  seemed  to  be  imperative  that,  in 
order  to  take  full  advantage  of  the  slight  crust 
which  formed,  we  should  travel  nights.     We 


r;    I 


!    ^U 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

made  this   experiment   once,    starting  out  at 
ID  P.M.,  and  once  was  quite  enough. 

The  thawing  snow  had  fallen  away  from  the 
path,  which  w^s  hardened  by  travel  from 
Dawson  and  therefore  the  better  resisted  the 
sun's  rays ;  but  when  frozen  it  was  as  slippery 
as  ice.  In  so  far  as  you  were  able  to  keep  the 
sled  from  slewing  on  this  razor's  back,  that 
much  you  aided  the  dogs.  At  intervals  you 
walked  outside  the  trail,  plunging  with  every 
step  through  the  crust  down  to  the  slush 
underneath,  while,  with  body  bent  and  arm  ex- 
tended with  all  the  rigidity  at  your  command, 
you  endeavored  to  hold  the  lurching  "  gee- 
pole  "  steady.  Early  in  the  evening  the  great 
darkness  seemed  the  more  dense  to  visions 
strained  by  the  sun  beating  on  the  expanse  of 
snow  by  day.  With  their  eyes  bloodshot  and 
almost  closed  with  snow-blindness,  the  St. 
Bernards  continually  stumbled  and  fell  as  they 
leaped  from  one  side  of  the  trail  to  the  other, 
blindly  and  vainly  seeking  a  better  footing. 
When  we  rested  we  dug  holes  in  the  crust,  and 
throwing  ourselves  prostrate,  drank  our  fill. 
At  first,  I  tried  to  use  a  telescope  drinking- 
cup,  but  soon  I  regarded  it  as  tawdry,  ineffi- 
cient, and  unworthy  of  the  occasion,  and  fol- 

32 


o 
o 

OQ 
Pi 


U 


8 


if 


^  I; 


I'f  i 


iii,i 


lyj 


Mi. 


THE  START  FROM  DYEA 

lowed  the  more  robust  custom  of  Jack,  who 
enjoyed  to  the  full  the  pleasure  of  having 
made  a  convert.  For  one  who  had  left  White 
Horse  with  a  bad  cough  on  the  heels  of  the 
measles,  such  indulgence  would  seem  to  be  the 
height  of  indiscretion.  But  the  cough  was 
completely  gone,  no  room  having  been  left  for 
it  in  the  development  of  every  muscle  of  my 
body  by  the  handling  of  the  "gee-pole." 

At  these  times  we  would  pay  our  respects 
with  some  bitterness  to  the  man  who  had 
made  this  strange  and  lonely  trail,  though  in 
better  moments  we  were  willing  to  admit  that 
he  was  a  pioneer  and  a  pathfinder.  As  soon 
as  the  ice  would  bear  him,  when  the  wind  had 
drifted  the  snow  here  and  there  and  lifted  the 
slush  ice  up  to  be  frozen  into  rifts,  with  his 
dogs  and  sleds  he  set  his  face  toward  the  coast, 
winding  in  and  out  between  these  rifts,  back 
and  forth  across  the  stream  and  along  its 
banks,  wherever  he  could  find  the  best  foot- 
ing; and  all  who  came  afterward  followed  in 
his  footsteps.  He  was  making  a  path  for  him- 
self and  not  for  us,  and  it  was  to  his  interest,  if 
not  to  ours,  to  have  it  as  crooked  as  the  track 
of  a  snake,  and  on  the  most  crooked  of  rivers 
at  that. 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 


If 

I: 

I! 


I  ] 


! 


With  the  falling  of  the  water  as  the  winter 
advanced,  the  ice  was  rent  with  cracks.  It  fell 
away  from  the  shores,  leaving  cakes  on  end 
and  fissures.  You  must  toil  up  one  side  of  a 
pyramid  to  slide  down  the  other ;  you  held 
your  sled  up  literally  at  an  angle  of  forty-five 
degrees,  and  sometimes  you  dropped  up  to 
your  hips  into  the  fissures,  for  the  thin  cover- 
ing of  snow  often  made  them  invisible  even 
in  the  daytime.  Yet  to  step  away  from  the 
trail  was  like  stepping  off  a  bad  corduroy  road 
into  a  swamp. 

In  the  darkness  the  trained  eye  of  the 
master  had  to  trust  to  the  halt  and  whine  of 
the  brave  little  Dude  when  we  came  to  a 
place  where  the  surface  water  was  deep  or  the 
ice  had  given  away  entirely.  While  the  master 
went  ahead  with  a  pole  to  make  soundings, 
Fritz  seized  the  opportunity  to  roll  a  cigarette 
and  to  say  in  a  drawl,  as  he  sat  on  his  sled, 
resting  r 

"  If  I  were  in  town  I  would  call  a  cab." 

Jack  had  discarded  his  boots  with  sharp  pegs 
— the  three  of  us  had  worn  boots  since  it  be- 
came warmer — to  put  on  moccasins.  These 
were  soon  wet  and  quickly  froze,  giving  him 
a  sole  of  ice  with  which  to  walk  on  ice.     In 

34 


THE  START  FROM  DYEA 

Utter  exhaustion,  on^je  the  big  fellow  threw 
himself  upon  his  *'  gee-pole  "  and  gasped  out 
something  about  not  caring  whether  he  went 
any  farther  or  not.     Then  he  added : 

"Well,  we'll  outlast  this  trail,  anyway.  I 
guess  I'll  light  my  pipe." 

Confessedly,  I  was  rather  glad  of  the  in- 
cident. It  is  good  to  see  giants  nod  when  you 
have  nodded  yourself.  Only  on  the  previous 
day,  over  a  mile  of  sidling  trail,  leaning  on  my 
sled  to  keep  it  from  upsetting,  and  righting  it 
when  it  did  upset,  I  had  momentarily,  I  am 
ashamed  to  say,  turned  cynic  and  protester. 

An  hour  before  dawn  a  scimeter  of  light 
shot  across  the  heavens,  followed  by  broad- 
swords, fans,  daggers,  waves,  and  streaks  of 
light,  dancing  sometimes  in  playful  panic  and 
again  moving  in  a  sweep  of  dignity.  With 
the  aurora  borealis  as  our  candle,  we  passed 
around  Freeman's  Point,  built  a  fire  for  lunch- 
eon in  a  cove,  and  enjoyed  keenly  the  fact  that 
we  were  half  way  to  Dawson. 


- «' 


35 


II 


ON    THE    TRAIL 

Personalities— The  Forbears  of  Jack  and  Fritz — Good  Camp 
Manners  — Dog  Individuality — Dude— The  Team  of 
Huskies— Wayfarlrs  at  Five  Fingers — Fort  Selkirk 
and  Pelly — The  Thanksgiving  Turkey  that  Did  Not 
Get  to  Dawson — A  Diet  of  Flapjacks — Suburbs  of  the 
Klondyke  Capital — The  Passing  of  the  Trail. 

AS  we  moved  on  slowly  at  dawn  to  make  a 
few  more  miles  before  camping,  we  saw 
the  penalty  of  this  savage  run,  which  human 
stubbornness  had  insisted  upon  making,  in  the 
blood  left  on  the  trail  by  the  wounded  feet  of 
our  dogs.     Jack  at  once  covered  them  with  the 
moccasins  which  he  had  brought  for  the  pur- 
pose.    It  was  plain  enough  that  the  continu- 
ance of  night  marches  was  unfeasible  if  we 
desired  our  brave  steeds  to  hold  out  as  far  as 
Dawson.     While  the  sled  slid  easier  at  night, 
the  excrescences  of  ice  were  as  sharp  as  lances, 
and  though  the  mushy  trail  of  mid-day  made 
the  sled  harder  to  pull,  it  was  like  a  cushion 
for  a  wounded  foot.     We  compromised  upon 


ON  THE  TRAIL 


a  portion  of  both  evils  by  determining  to  start 
at  dawn  and  travel  as  fast  and  as  long  as  we 
could,  practically.  This  gave  only  seven  or 
eight  hours  on  the  road  as  against  the  twelve 
or  more  that  we  had  originally  planned,  and 
in  order  to  make  the  most  of  them  we  made 
the  sacrifice  for  the  dogs*  sake  of  drinking  ice- 
water  for  our  luncheon  instead  of  taking  the 
time  to  boil  chocolate.  Fritz  preferring  to 
handle  the  "gee-pole,"  and  I  preferring  to 
assist  in  keeping  the  equilibrium  of  the  big  sled 
by  holding  the  handles  at  the  rear,  each  settled 
down  to  this  as  his  definite  labor. 

We  now  had  more  time  for  our  camps  ; 
more  time  for  our  pipes  of  relaxation  as  we 
sat  on  our  beds  around  Jack's  bonfires  after 
the  dogs  were  fed  and  dinner  was  eaten.  On 
one  of  these  nights  we  were  talking  of  am- 
bitions. 

"  As  a  boy,  I  wanted  to  drive  a  street-car," 
said  Fritz.  "When  I  grew  older  they  still 
called  me  Freddy,  and  I  made  pictures  for  a 
living.  That  is  enough  to  ruin  any  man  ;  and, 
foreseeing  this,  I  concluded  that  I'd  live  on  flap- 
jacks and  go  unwashed,  and  be  called  *  pardner,' 
or  Pete,  or  Bill,  or  make  baking-powder  dough, 
or  anything,  till  I  found  a  good  placer  mine. 

m  ^    " 


I  t 


'    'A  I 

I 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 


su 


i 


Then  I'm  going  around  the  world,  smoking 
the  best  brand  of  Turkish  cigarettes,  and  look- 
ing at  other  people's  pictures." 

Jack  had  run  away  from  home  at  the  age 
of  thirteen  to  the  land  of  the  Indians  that  had 
been  revealed  to  him  in  a  dime  novel  secreted 
in  a  haymow,  and  had  earned  his  own  living 
ever  since.  Meagre  as  was  his  early  education, 
he  had  picked  up  a  surprsing  amount  of  in- 
formation from  reading  and  from  association. 
His  eye  was  that  of  a  scout ;  his  knowledge  of 
birds  and  animals  that  of  a  naturalist ;  his  love 
of  flowers  that  of  a  sentimentalist.  He  had 
varied  his  life  as  a  cowboy  by  many  other  oc- 
cupations. At  one  time  he  had  been  a  private 
coachman  in  Omaha,  just  to  see  how  it  would 
seem. 

"  I  was  gettin'  pretty  sick  of  the  job,"  he  ex- 
plained, "when  the  old  lady  I  drove  about 
leaned  over  to  me  one  day,  confidentially. 
•I'm  goin'  to  get  you  a  fine  livery  to  wear,*  she 
said.  Then  I  realized  how  low  I  had  fallen, 
and  that  evening  I  was  a  free  man  again." 

He  was  longer  on  the  Government  survey 
than  in  any  other  employment,  rising  until  he 
filled  a  position  of  considerable  responsibility. 
Possibly  it  was  then  that  he  learned  the  ethics 

38 


ON  THE  TRAIL 


of  camp-life  ;  more  likely  they  were  innate. 
He  adhered  to  his  own  soap,  his  own  towel, 
and  his  own  bedding,  and  was  more  observant 
of  the  small  niceties  of  life  than  are  most  of  the 
men  who  wear  the  high  collars  that  he  despised. 
In  all  of  his  seventeen  years  of  wandering  his 
greatest  source  of  sorrow  was  that  he  had  never 
made  enough  money,  according  to  his  ideas,  to 
return  home,  though  his  pay  had  been  as  high 
as  a  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  a  month.  He 
must  have  a  few  thousands,  and  treat  the  little 
Pennsylvania  village  that  was  his  birthplace  to 
such  extravagance  as  it  had  never  seen  before. 
If  he  made  a  "  stake "  in  the  Klondyke,  he 
had  planned  to  drive  right  up  to  the  old  folks' 
door  with  his  team  of  huskies  and  a  little  red 
cart,  distributing  candy  to  the  children  as  the 
procession  moved  forward. 

The  dogs,  which  at  first  seemed  to  me  to  be 
only  so  many  domesticated  wolves  of  like  dis- 
positions, had  now  assumed  strong  individuali- 
ties. Dude,  the  leader,  was  worthy  of  the 
name  given  to  him,  on  account  of  his  sleek  coat 
of  thick  gray  fur,  by  the  frontiersman  who  had 
instilled  into  him  the  wisdom  of  the  trail  and 
soldierly  spirit  and  obedience.  He  was  the 
sergeant-major  among  Yukon  dogs,  far  from 

39 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

being  a  pup  in  years  and  far  from  having  lost 
his  vigor.  When  called  to  harness  in  the  morn- 
ing he  would  stretch  his  body,  arch  his  neck, 
throw  his  handsome  tail  over  his  back,  deliver 
himself  of  a  peculiar  little  wolfish  whine,  and 
trot  straight  to  his  place.  Though  your  old 
sergeant-major  may  feel  a  little  stiff  when  he 
gets  out  of  bed,  he  isn't  stiff  when  he  has  his 
tunic  on,  especially  if  there  are  any  recruits 
about.  From  the  moment  that  Jack  called 
"  Mush  !"  until  he  called  **  Halt ! "  Dude  pulled 
steadily.  All  the  others  shirked  at  times  and 
needed  the  crack  of  the  whip  to  remind  them  of 
their  duty,  but  the  traces  between  Dude  and 
the  dog  behind  him  were  always  taut.  He 
had  the  natural  dignity  requisite  to  his  position. 
The  other  dogs  attempted  no  familiarities  with 
him,  such  as  eating  out  of  his  dish  or  trying  to 
bowl  him  over  in  sport.  After  an  unusually 
hard  day's  work,  before  lying  down  to  rest,  he 
would  gambol  a  little  with  them  as  a  relaxation 
from  the  steady  strain  in  harness,  but  not  in  a 
manner  of  equality. 

During  their  conversations  while  the  master 
was  stirring  the  porridge  he  asked  the  ser- 
geant-major what  he  thought  of  the  prospects 
of  reaching  Dawson  before  the  ice  went  out  of 

40 


'  it 


In  Camp— The  Dogs'  Porridge. 


1 1 


; 


ON  THE  TRAIL 

the  river,  Dude  replied,  on  the  authority  of 
Jack's  translation : 

"  Don't  ask  nrie !  I  can  make  it  all  right. 
But  we  ain't  certain  of  anything  as  long  as  we 
have  those  house-dogs  on  the  hind  sled." 

Next  to  Dude  was  Fox,  a  nondescript,  who 
remained  in  good  flesh  up  to  the  last.  He 
waddled  and  puffed  in  tr)'ing  to  keep  up  when 
Dude  trotted.  Fritz  said  that  Fox  reminded 
him  of  a  fat  school-girl,  her  cheeks  daubed  with 
molasses  candy,  and  two  braids  down  her  back. 

Behind  Fox  was  Jack,  a  pup,  a  mischief- 
maker,  a  rascal,  and  an  actor.  All  husky  dogs 
are  thieves.  Some  will  take  a  pot  off  a  stove 
by  its  handle  and  hide  it  safely  out  of  sight  in 
the  snow  while  they  wait  for  its  contents  to 
cool  to  their  taste.  Jack  promised  to  become 
the  most  accomplished  of  the  clan.  His  wolfs 
nose  always  told  him  where  our  bacon  was 
stored  and  his  wolf's  eyes  told  him  when  his 
opportunity  had  arrived.  Once  he  had  the 
meat  out  of  his  own  basin  of  porridge  eaten, 
he  looked  up  to  see  which  dog  had  any  left  and 
got  it  before  the  other  dog  realized  what  was 
up.  He  would  scent  an  Indian  camp  even 
be'ore  Dude,  sometimes  at  a  distance  of  two 
miles.     In  the  traces  he  forgot  to  pull  while  he 

41 


I" -I  (^ 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

looked  at  the  ravens  flying  overhead  or  listened 
for  noises  in  the  forest.  Then  the  whip  de- 
scended upon  him  and  he  would  seem  very 
crestfallen  for  a  moment,  only  to  be  at  his  old 
tricks  and  to  have  his  tail  in  the  air  in  the  next. 
The  more  he  was  punished  for  dereliction  during 
the  day,  the  greater  was  his  affection  for  his 
master  in  camp.  On  the  warmer  nights  when 
Jack  slept  outside  of  the  hut  for  the  sake  of 
elbow  room,  he  would  put  himself  on  guard  at 
the  head  of  the  master's  bed  of  boughs  and 
allow  no  other  dog  except  Dude  to  come  near. 

Dude  was  partial  to  him.  He  regarded  Jack 
as  a  wayward  but  clever  pup  who  was  sowing 
his  wild  oats,  and  he  knew,  as  an  old  sergeant- 
major,  that  this  would  make  the  best  kind  of  a 
dog  in  the  end.  Often  the  master  took  hold 
of  the  ne'er-do-well's  ears  and  shook  him,  say- 
ing: 

•'  I  guess  I  like  you  best,  after  all,  Jack. 
That's  the  way  of  the  world.  You're  a  rascal, 
but  you're  clever." 

Next  in  line  was  Tommy,  Jack's  brother. 
Jack  enjoyed  getting  Tommy  into  scrapes  and 
then  leaving  him  to  get  out  of  them  the  best 
he  could.  Tommy  was  forever  sneaking  about 
the  tent,  and  he  was  so  impolitic  in  his  choice 

42 


fr' 


J^^:v 


ON  THE  TRAIL 


of  his  moment  of  action  that  he  was  usually 
caught  red-handed  and  cuffed.  Though  he 
never  succeeded  in  stealing  half  as  much  as 
Jack,  he  came  in  for  a  great  deal  more  enmity 
from  Fritz  than  all  the  rest  of  the  team.  Jack 
used  to  approach  Fritz  gayly  as  Fritz  sat  with  a 
leg  on  either  side  of  our  little  stove,  turn  his 
coyote's  head  to  one  side,  cock  up  his  ears,  and 
assure  Fritz  of  his  friendship  for  a  good  cook 
and  his  contempt  for  all  such  curs  as  Tommy. 
He  might  go  and  come  many  times  in  this  way 
before  Fritz's  back  was  turned.  When  it  was, 
however,  he  seized  his  spoil  and  trotted  away 
in  the  businesslike  manner  of  a  dog  who  is  do- 
ing an  errand  for  his  master.  At  a  safe  distance, 
he  neatly  dodged  all  missiles  and  smiled  mock- 
ingly back  at  the  cook.  When  Tommy  was 
licked  in  the  traces  he  howled  for  half  an  hour 
and  his  tail  did  not  ascend  for  the  remainder 
of  the  day.  None  of  the  other  dogs  would 
make  friends  with  so  sour  a  fellow.  Perhaps 
he  was  only  oversensitive  and  introspective, 
and  I  do  him  wrong.  I  fear,  however,  that  he 
will  be  sent  to  the  penitentiary  at  Forty  Mile 
for  a  long  term  one  of  these  days. 

Shorty,    the  end  dog  (wheel  horse)  of  the 
husky  team,  was  born  in  Spitzbergen,  where 

43 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 


dogs  are  so  white  that  when  they  are  on  a 
background  of  snow  you  know  of  their  pres- 
ence only  by  the  black  spots  for  their  eyes  and 
a  bigger  black  spot  for  their  noses.  An 
equality  in  breadth  and  length  gave  Shorty  his 
name.  Like  some  fat  old  gentlemen  whom 
we  meet  at  the  club,  he  was  the  more  comical 
because  he  was  unconsciously  so.  He  didn't 
believe  in  being  a  martyr,  and  he  always  carried 
his  head  so  that  one  of  his  eyes  was  on  Jack. 
When  the  master  was  about  to  touch  up  Jack 
and  Tommy,  Shorty  would  begin  suddenly  to 
pull  very  hard.  His  legs  were  so  short  and  his 
body  was  so  chunky  that  if  the  team  turned  a 
sharp  corner  around  a  cake  of  ice  he  would 
often  roll  over  like  a  ball  of  fur ;  or,  in  trying 
to  keep  up  he  would  slip  and  fall  down  a  fissure, 
hanging  suspended  by  his  collar  while  he  looked 
around  at  Jack,  saying  : 

"Oh,  I  know  I'm  the  snapper  of  the  whip! 
What  next  ? " 

He  blinked  so  oddly,  there  was  such  an  ex- 
pression of  disgust  in  the  very  way  in  which  he 
lolled  his  tongue  out,  that  you  laughed  at  him 
as  you  would  at  the  old  gentleman  who  finds 
another  club  member  in  his  favorite  chair  and 
reading  his  favorite  paper. 

44 


ON  THE  TRAIL 


Tim,  the  larger  of  the  two  St.  Bernards, 
was  a  sober,  phlegmatic  dog  of  noble  mien, 
who  was  funny  only  when  he  ate  so  much  por- 
ridge after  a  hard  day's  work  that  he  groaned 
with  pain. 

"  You  needn't  look  at  me  so  reproachfully, 
Tim,"  Jack  would  say,  *'  I  know  I'm  to  blame. 
But  I'd  feel  just  as  mean  if  I  didn't  feed  you 
all  you  wanted." 

The  St.  Bernard  is  too  high-spirited  for  the 
work  of  a  draught  animal.  At  first  Patsy 
seemed  the  better  dog  of  the  two.  But  Patsy 
wore  himself  out  by  fidgeting,  and  then  it  was 
his  turn  to  soldier  while  Tim  did  his  work. 
Toward  the  last  they  were  in  such  bad  shape 
that  we  dared  to  put  only  fifty  pounds  on  their 
sled. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  Five  Fingers  we  met 
a  dozen  stranded  pilgrims  whose  desperate 
efforts  to  reach  Dawson  in  the  previous  autumn 
had  been  put  to  naught  by  the  summary  ap- 
proach of  the  arctic  winter  when  they  were 
within  a  few  days  of  their  destination.  They 
had  built  cabins  on  the  banks  of  the  river, 
wherever  their  boats  had  been  inextricably 
caught  in  a  jam  of  ice,  and  settled  down  to  the 
prospect  of  playing  checkers  and  fighting  off 

45 


i\ 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 


.t 


1  7 


scurvy  for  eight  months,  until  summer  came. 
Of  those  who  were  unsuccessful  in  the  battle, 
the  most  afflicted  was  an  old  forty-niner  who 
accepted  with  better  grace  than  any  of  the 
others  a  diet  of  spruce  tea  and  rice,  which  he 
hoped  would  undo  the  work  of  too  much 
bacon.  A  few  prospect  holes  had  been  sunk 
without  any  reward  except  '*  colors,"  because, 
as  they  explained,  they  were,  in  keeping  with 
their  general  ill  luck,  just  outside  of  the  gold 
belt.  For  selfish  as  well  as  sentimental  reasons 
we  were  glad  that  these  unfortunate  fellows 
were  not  more  numerous.  We  had  always  to 
tell  them  some  of  the  news,  and  then  to  leave 
their  hospitality  rather  offended  despite  our 
explanations  that  we  could  not  afford  to  tarry 
with  them  for  a  day's  rest  when  the  trail  was 
good. 

At  one  of  the  cabins  a  boy  of  seventeen  years 
hobbled  out  to  the  bank  to  greet  us.  He  and 
his  uncle  had  left  Dawson  for  the  coast  in 
December,  drawing  their  own  sleds.  Hardship 
had  so  affected  his  uncle's  mind,  as  the  story 
was  told  to  me,  that  to  escape  from  the  country 
had  become  a  brutal  and  selfish  mania  with 
him.  He  forced  his  nephew,  even  at  the  point 
of  the  revolver,  it  was  said,  to  do  all  the  work 

46 


ON  THE  TRAIL 

of  making  and  breaking  camp.  The  boy  was 
so  tired  one  night  that  he  crawled  under  his 
blankets  without  changing  his  moccasins,  which 
had  become  wet  by  the  slush  snow  about  the 
fire.  He  awoke  in  the  morning  with  his  feet 
frozen.  When  they  were  overtaken  on  the 
trail  by  a  man  with  a  dog  team,  the  next  after- 
noon, the  boy,  goaded  on  by  his  uncle,  was 
plodding  along  on  legs  which  were  frozen  stiff 
up  to  his  knees,  experiencing,  he  said,  much  in- 
convenience but  no  pain.  The  fellow-traveller 
gave  him  a  ride  behind  the  dogs  to  the  nearest 
cabin,  where,  later,  a  doctor  on  his  way  to  the 
coast  found  amputation  necessary  to  save  the 
boy's  life.  As  for  the  uncle,  he  delayed  only  a 
few  hours,  and  hastened  on  his  journey  more 
energetically  than  ever. 

A  little  hunting  had  been  done  by  the 
stranded  pilgrims,  but  with  no  success.  We 
had  hoped  to  obtain  some  venison  from  the 
Indians,  but  though  we  passed  many  of  their 
deserted  camps  between  the  Hootalinqua  and 
the  Pelly,  we  came  to  only  one  that  was  occu- 
pied. Here  two  families  were  sitting  around 
a  small  fire  with  their  backs  protected  on  all 
sides  from  the  wind  by  a  wall  of  brush  about 
waist  high.     We  secured  a  few  pounds  of  ex- 

47 


i' 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 


'  ■ 


i)  \ 


tremely  tough  steak  in  exchange  for  some  corn- 
meal.  A  small  boy  who  looked  quite  like  a 
young  Jap  knew  a  few  English  words  and  had 
the  gift  of  making  comprehensible  gestures. 
He  explained  that  he  had  heard  his  father's  gun 
go  •'  boom  ! "  far  off  on  the  mountain-side,  a  few 
hours  before.  No  chaffing  could  shake  his 
confidence  in  his  father,  whose  name  was 
Chook,  as  a  great  hunter.  One  boom,  he  told 
us  by  signs,  and  the  moose  or  caribou  always 
tumbled  over  into  the  snow.  The  temptation 
to  wait  and  see  if  Chook  would  return  with 
fresh  moose  or  caribou  meat  was  great,  but  we 
resisted  it.  When,  however,  we  were  at  the 
other  end  of  the  semicircle  formed  by  the  curve 
of  the  river  beyond  the  camp,  a  cry  from  the 
bank  showed  us  Chook,  who  had  hastened 
through  the  woods  by  a  trail  known  to  himself, 
bearing  a  fine  caribou  steak  and  a  piece  of 
liver.  With  him,  besides  the  little  boy  we  had 
seen,  was  an  elder  brother  who  had  been  out 
to  learn  the  way  in  which  Daddy  crept  up 
quietly  until  he  was  within  a  few  steps  of  his 
prey.  Chook  wanted  sugar  in  exchange,  but 
we  had  none  to  spare.  Finally  his  obduracy 
was  overcome  and  he  accepted  corn-meal. 
Long  after  we  had  passed  on,  he  stood  watch- 

48 


ON  THE  TRAIL 


ing  us,  and  presumably  he  was  grinning  over 
his  bargain.  We  enjoyed  part  of  the  steak; 
Jack,  the  pup,  stole  the  rest  with  such  finesse 
that  we  forgave  him. 

When  we  had  passed  one  point  which  we 
recognized  as  a  name  on  the  map,  we  looked 
forward  from  day  to  day,  as  we  lessened  the 
distance,  until  we  should  arrive  at  another.  In 
camp  we  compared  our  opinions  of  how  many 
miles  we  had  made  that  day,  and  soon  our 
estimates  became  surprisingly  accurate.  After 
leaving  Five  Fingers,  all  our  thoughts  were 
bent  on  reaching  Fort  Selkirk,  where  the  Pelly, 
a  great  river  of  itself,  joins  the  Yukon.  The 
trail  for  this  distance  was  better  than  for  the 
fifty  miles  that  had  preceded  it  and  the  colder 
weather  made  sledging  better.  Moreover,  our 
new  plan  of  shorter  hours  and  harder  work  was 
succeeding  admirably. 

Long  before  placer  mining  was  thought  of 
in  Alaska  or  in  the  British  Northwest  Terri- 
tory, representatives  of  the  fur  companies  were 
stationed  at  Fort  Selkirk.  The  present  post 
is  across  the  river  from  the  upper  ramparts  of 
the  Yukon's  bank,  whose  towering  walls  of 
rock  resemble  the  walls  of  old-time  forts,  even 
to  the  embrasures.     In  a  break  in  the  ramparts 

49 


! 


r.->;^  i 


n 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

is  the  mouth  of  the  Pelly,  which  is  to  the 
Yukon  what  the  Missouri  is  to  the  Mississippi. 

Mr.  Pettit,  the  trader  at  Selkirk,  had  only 
Indians  for  companions.  The  aspect  of  this 
little  man's  loneliness  was  heightened  by  his 
slight  form  and  his  pallor,  so  out  of  place  in  a 
country  where  bare  existence  is  supposed  to 
demand  so  much  vigor.  In  summer  he  busied 
himself  with  a  little  garden,  which  was  an  ab- 
sorbing occupation  because  upon  its  success 
there  possibly  depended  immunity  from  the 
dreaded  scurvy.  In  winter  he  sat  by  his  stove 
smoking  when  he  was  not  sleeping.  Watchinp- 
the  Indians  go  through  the  ritual  of  the  Rus- 
sian Church  in  their  original  manner,  or  dance 
around  a  dying  fellow  to  keep  oflf  the  evil  spirit 
of  death,  were  diversions  which  must  by  this 
time  have  lost  their  novelty  for  him.  He  had 
had  nothing  to  sell  for  more  than  a  year.  This 
was  a  great  disappointment  to  his  customers 
who  were  short  of  those  great  requirements  of 
aboriginal  happiness,  tobacco,  sugar,  and  gay- 
colored  clothes. 

While  we  were  at  Pelly,  the  Indians  became 
excited  over  the  arrival  of  news  that  one  of 
the  tribe,  Ulick,  had  shot  ten  caribou  and  two 
moose,   "  one  sleep  " — or   more   than   a  day's 

50 


ON  THE  TRAIL 


<l 


travel — down  the  river.  We  made  careful 
calculations  as  to  how  much  tobacco  we  could 
spare,  and  kept  a  sharp  lookout  for  Ulick, 
whom  we  met  with  his  family  dragging  some 
of  the  moose  back  to  camp.  For  forty-five 
cents'  worth  of  tobacco  we  secured  thirty 
pounds  of  steak  for  ourselves  and  the  dogs. 
To  offers  of  as  high  as  a  dollar  a  pound  for 
more,  he  merely  made  the  reply  : 

••  Got  heap  money  !     Want  •  baccy !  "* 

Your  husky  dog  is  no  vegetarian.  Once  we 
realized  how  much  additional  pulling-power 
our  team  could  get  out  of  a  little  fresh  meat 
we  denied  ourselves  for  them. 

The  height  and  the  character  of  the  moun- 
tains towering  over  our  heads  told  us  that  we 
were  coming  into  the  region  of  the  Rockies. 
Every  turn  of  the  river  brought  into  view  a 
panorama  of  low  wooded  islands  made  in  later 
times  by  a  change  of  current ;  of  islands  that 
were  Cyclopean  masses  thrown  up  by  chaos, 
and  the  nesting-places  of  eagles ;  of  mountains 
on  either  shore,  whose  strata  seemed  to  have 
been  kneaded  and  stirred  when  soft  as  dough, 
and  afterward,  upon  solidifying,  to  have  been 
rent  by  convulsions  of  the  earth's  crust. 

But  one  was  too  busy  with  the  handles  of 

8X 


* 


11 


liir 


lit' 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

the  sled  fully  to  enjoy  scenery.  You  only 
knew  that  the  vista  seemed  to  be  frowning 
upon  the  impudence  of  you  and  your  sled  and 
dogs  breaking  in  upon  great  solitudes.  Thank- 
fully, the  weather  was  more  in  our  favor  and 
the  trail  was  harder,  as  it  had  been  between  the 
Big  Salmon  and  Pelly,  and  not  so  sliding.  At 
times  it  was  as  smooth  as  a  skating-rink  for 
a  few  hundred  yards  where  it  was  protected 
from  the  sun  by  the  shadow  of  the  mountains 
and  the  forests  ;  again,  there  was  glare  ice, 
where  we  might  ride  for  a  little  distance,  jest- 
ing merrily  about  private  equipages  and  driv- 
ing-parks ;  and,  again,  we  drove  flocks  of  wild 
ducks  away  from  open  places,  making  us  re- 
gret that  we  had  only  revolvers  with  us.  Far 
over  our  heads  against  the  background  of  the 
blue  sky  we  saw  great  flocks  of  wild  swans  and 
wild  geese  moving  northward  in  stately  pro- 
cession, reminding  us  that  summer  was  near  at 
hand.  At  2  a.m.  the  thermometer  was  at  from 
10  to  20  degrees  below  zero;  at  noon,  80  de- 
grees above,  and  the  crust  of  dawn  had  become 
like  porridge.  I  had  one  ear  blistered  by  the 
frost  and  the  other  by  the  sun  in  the  same  day. 
But  we  little  minded  these  extremes ;  for  the 

trail  continued  to  be  good,  until  one  morn- 

52 


ON  THE  TRAIL 


ing  we  arrived  at  the  cluster  of  cabins  called 
Stewart  City,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Stewart 
River,  where  we  rested  for  a  day.  Of  the  in- 
mates of  the  cabins  we  bought  enough  rice  to 
piece  out  the  rations  of  our  dogs. 

A  mile  out  of  Stewart  we  met  Anders,  of 
Bay  City,  Michigan,  who  was  drawing  his  own 
sled  as  he  swung  along  in  great  strides  in  the 
company  of  an  elderly  man  who  had  one  dog. 
An  idea  for  making  a  fortune  had  occurred  to 
him  and  to  carry  it  out  he  had  started  for 
Dyca  at  once,  regardless  of  the  season  of  the 
year.  He  was  "  going  outside  "  to  bring  in  the 
stock  for  a  poultry  farm  which  he  proposed  to 
establish  on  an  island  near  Dawson. 

**  Fresh  eggs  will  bring  ten  dollars  a  dozen 
any  time,"  he  said,  "  and  a  spring  chicken  as 
much.  I  ain't  going  to  let  anybody  get  ahead 
of  me,  you  bet.  I've  got  a  side  of  bacon  and 
a  sack  of  flour.  I'll  sleep  by  day  and  go  with- 
out a  blanket.  I'll  make  it  to  Five  Fingers 
with  my  sled  and  then  I'll  take  what's  left  of 
my  grub  on  my  back  and  skin  along  the  shore 
till  I  get  to  the  lakes,  where  I  can  get  some 
more  grub  off  the  boats  that  are  coming  in, 
snake  a  canoe  somewhere,  and  paddle  up  to 
Linderman." 

S3 


t 

u 


IN  THE  KLONDYKP: 


lilHiU 


i:   ' 


i'i' 


h       u.  \ 


I  saw  him  in  Dawson  tw"o  weeks  after  the 
pilgrims'  flotilla  began  to  arrive.  The  ice  in 
the  riv^cr  liad  broken  before  he  reached  Five 
Fingers.  Me  had  climbed  over  mountains 
and  beaten  his  way  through  underbrush  until 
he  sprained  his  ankle.  Then  he  crawled  to 
a  ledge  of  rock  overlooking  the  stream  and 
waited  until  a  pilgrim  in  a  passing  boat  saw 
the  red  bandanna  which  he  waved  as  a  signal 
of  distress. 

**And  I  guess  Dawson  won't  have  turkey 
for  Thanksgiving  this  year,"  he  added.  "  You 
remember  the  old  feller  that  was  witli  me  ? 
We  got  separated.  He  couldn't  keep  up  with 
my  gait.  Well,  our  boat  passer!  his  dog  run- 
ning up  and  down  the  shore  howling,  but  we 
couldn't  find  a  sign  of  him.  I  guess  he  was 
drowned." 

It  took  us  six  days  to  make  the  remaining 
seventy-five  miles  to  Dawson,  though  now 
our  outfit,  including  bedding  and  kit-bags,  did 
not  weigh  more  than  two  hundred  pounds. 
The  weather  at  night  had  suddenly  moderated, 
as  if  the  arctic  winter,  after  a  spusn  odic  re- 
sistance, had  given  way  enlirely  to  the  tropical 
summer.  Henceforth,  it  was  needless  to  put 
up  our  tent,  and  we  slept  and  cooked  entirely 

54 


CQ 


m 


hi 


fS 


if 


ON  THE  TRAIL 

in  the  open,  drying  our  wet  footwear  by  the 
heat  of  the  sun  in  the  late  afternoon. 

Starting  at  2  a.m.  with  the  first  h'ght,  we 
plodded  straight  ahead  through  the  snow  up  to 
our  knees,  until  the  dogs  gave  out.  We  fol- 
lowed the  trail  where  we  could ;  followed 
it  until  it  led  us  to  the  flowing  river,  and 
then  we  made  a  detour  around  the  open  place. 
The  snow-shoes  which  we  had  brought  thus 
far  without  having  once  put  them  on,  now  be- 
came invaluable  in  making  a  path  by  slow  and 
arduous  tramping,  as  monotonous  as  the  beat- 
ing of  time,  but  a  little  more  tiring,  I  assure 
you.  With-  .  =  the  relief  of  the  color  of  the 
dogs  or  of  the  man  in  front  of  you  upon  which 
to  rest  your  eyes,  little  red  spots  would  dance 
in  the  glare  on  the  snow  even  through  heavy 
green  glasses.  Often  the  rest  of  the  party 
had  to  wait  while  Jack,  who  never  tired,  went 
on  ahead  to  see  if,  in  case  we  should  go  around 
this  or  that  island,  we  should  be  obliged  to  re- 
trace our  steps.  Again,  in  little  side  channels 
where  the  water  was  deep  only  in  a  freshet,  we 
hitched  all  the  dogs  to  one  sled  at  a  time 
and  they  dragged  it  over  the  sandy  bottom  and 
up  on  the  otlier  side,  where  we  were  likely  to 
strike  out  on  an  old  Indian  trail  bare  of  snow, 

55 


tl 


CV-- 


'  I 


ifi  I 


H 


1-1 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

and    to   have    to   lift   the   sleds  from  side  to 
side  to  avoid  saplings. 

It  was  our  boast  that  only  once  had  we  un- 
packed the  sleds  except  to  make  camp.  This 
was  at  Five  Fingers,  where  we  had  to  carry 
our  baggage  piece  by  piece  up  an  ascent  of 
forty  feet.  Even  there  we  had  sent  the  dogs 
up  with  the  small  sled  on  bare  ground.  But 
now  we  could  lift  the  sleds  and  contents ;  or 
if  the  bank  or  ledge  of  rocks  which  we  wished 
to  gain  was  very  precipitate,  we  could  slide 
them  up  on  skids.  Dude,  the  old  leader, 
would  crawl  up  by  himself  without  a  whine, 
like  a  true  soldier.  Jack  threw  the  other 
huskies  up  bodily,  and  the  clumsy  St.  Ber- 
nards were  pushed  and  pulled  and  coaxed  up. 

Just  when  we  had  to  undergo  the  greatest 
physical  labor,  and  the  greatest  strain  from 
climate,  our  food-supply,  so  astonishing  had 
been  our  appetites,  had  dwindled  to  flour  and 
bad  bacon,  and  we  had  remaining  only  a  pipe 
of  tobacco  apiece,  which  was  religiously  saved 
for  our  last  camp.  We  missed  most  keenly 
our  chocolate,  of  which  we  had  eaten  half  a 
pound  apiece  a  day.  With  a  slab  of  it  for 
luncheon,  and  only  two  flapjacks  and  a  slice 
of  bacon,  wc  were  not  hungry  again  for  fi\'^ 

56 


ON  THE  TRAIL 

or  six  hours.  Consume  all  the  flapjacks  and 
bacon  that  we  could  without  suffering  from 
that  excess  of  quantity  which  is  the  foe  of 
exercise,  in  three  or  four  hours  our  stomachs 
would  be  calling  for  more. 

On  the  aftiirnoon  of  the  fourth  day  out 
from  Stewart,  when  the  dogs  pulled  up  after 
one  of  the  rushes  they  were  never  too  tired  to 
make  on  scenting  a  camp,  we  looked  up  to  see 
some  figures  standing  on  a  pile  of  logs  which 
they  were  cutting  for  a  raft  of  timber  for  a 
Dawson  saw-mill. 

••  How  are  ye  ? "  they  called.  **  Goin'  to 
town?" 

We  had  reached  the  suburbs! 

"Well,"  replied  Jack,  •'we've  been  thinkin' 
some  of  it.     How  far  is  it  ?  " 

"'Bout  twenty  miles.  But  you  won't  make 
it.     The  ice  is  likely  to  go  out  any  minute." 

On  the  day  following  we  passed  still  another 
camp  of  rafters,  who  said  that  the  river  was 
open  in  front  of  Dawson.  They  advised  us  to 
make  camp  and  accompany  them  when  navi- 
tion  opened. 

•'  We'll  be  old  inhabitants  by  that  time,"  said 
Jack. 

Every  creek  flowing  into  the    river   was   a 

57 


!ii 


n 


'hi 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

torrent,  eating  up  the  ice  and  flooding  its  sur- 
face. We  could  see  that  the  river  was  rising, 
which  was  a  sure  sign  that  its  days  were  few. 
However,  we  were  confident  of  reaching  our 
destination  on  the  morrow,  though  we  had  to 
desert  our  sleds,  put  some  flapjacks  and  slices 
of  bacon  in  our  pockets,  and  climb  over  the 
mountain  which  hid  *'  town  "  from  view. 

Our  last  camp  was  on  a  wooded  island 
where  some  prospector  had  built  a  brush- 
house.  Jack's  bonfire,  especially  large  in 
honor  of  the  occasion,  extended  to  this  house, 
and  we  thought  it  rather  good  fun  that  we  had 
to  save  our  bedding  from  the  flames.  But  our 
jubilation  was  not  unmixed  with  sadness.  VVe 
should  not  make  another  journey  together,  and 
we  had  been  good  comrades,  always  venting 
our  uager,  when  it  insisted  upon  expression, 
upon  our  sleds,  and  never  blaming  one  another. 

Our  hair  and  beards  were  long  and  un- 
kempt ;  our  trousers  were  the  color  of  ma- 
hogany ;  but  we  felt  strong  enough  to  go  up 
the  side  of  a  mountain  on  the  run,  and  we  had 
been  so  near  to  natui'  that  we  could  truly 
claim  her  for  next-door  neighbor. 

In  the  future,  the  numerous  police  stations 

built  in  the  summer  (1898)  will   furnish  food 

58 


ON  THE  TRAIL 


for  travellers  and  their  dogs.  Already,  there- 
fore, our  journey  in  the  manner  that  we  made 
it  is  a  thing  of  the  past,  and,  accordingly,  one 
feels  as  he  looks  back  on  it  a  little  of  the  pride 
of  the  pioneer. 

"  We  can  sleep  as  long  as  wc  want,  to-mor- 
row," said  Fritz,  pulling  his  robe  over  him, 
"and  we  won't  care  whether  it  is  going  to 
freeze  at  night  or  not." 

"  And  we  won't  have  wet  feet,"  Jack  added. 
"  I  guess  it's  been  twenty  days  since  they 
wasn't  sopping  'fore  we'd  been  out  two  hours, 
and  that  slush  does  feel  rather  clammy  when 
the  sun's  blisterin'  overhead." 

Ten  miles  in  ten  hours  was  the  record  of 
our  last  day's  travel,  over  the  worst  trail  we 
had  encountered.  At  dusk  we  rounded  an 
island,  and  to  our  right,  on  a  small  flat  across 
the  river  (which  here  had  been  opened  by  the 
current  of  the  Klondyke),  we  saw  the  cluster 
of  cabins  wliich  was  the  pilgrim's  Mecca. 
There  was  glare  ice,  however,  above  the  Klon- 
dyke across  to  the  little  suburb  of  Dawson, 
Klondyke  City.  For  the  first  time  in  many 
days  wc  rode  on  our  sleds,  finishing  our  jour- 
ney in  triumph. 

•'  Don't  you  know  tl\at   it's  too  late  to  travel 

5y 


!'l 


*f 


if 


ji 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

on  the  river?"  asked  the  foremost  man  of  the 
little  crowd  that  came  out  to  meet  us. 

**  Yes,"  replied  Jack,  "  and  we've  just  made 
up  our  minds  to  quit." 

Four  days  later,  ar  if  it  had  broken  away  all 
along  the  shores  at  the  same  moment,  the  ice 
moved  on  toward  the  sea  like  a  great  white 
procession,  halted  now  and  then  by  a  jam,  but 
not  for  long. 

•'  It's  a  pleasure  to  see  that  trail  go  by,"  was 
Jack's  comment,  as  he  watched  it  from  our 
cabin-door.  **  I  only  wish  I  might  pay  it  back 
in  its  own  kind  by  tripping  it  up  a  few  times." 


60 


be 
ie 


11 
;e 
e 

It 

s 
r 


III 


DAWSON 

Social  Aspects  of  Dawson  — Cornering  the  Tinned  Food 
Market— Cheechawkos  and  Old-Timers  in  the  Early 
Days. 

AT  this  season  of  the  year  the  inhabitants 
of  Dawson  were  passing  out  of  the  chrys- 
alis of  fur  caps  into  soiled,  broad-brimmed 
hats  resurrected  from  cabin-shelves;  out  of 
winter  clothing  generally  into  what  remained 
of  their  last  summer's  c'othing.  Along  the 
thawing  bog  called  the  main  street,  littered  and 
odorous  from  sanitary  neglect,  were  two  rows 
of  saloons  and  gambling-halls,  with  mining- 
brokers'  offices  and  the  stores  of  shrewd  specu- 
lators in  food-supplies,  who  always  had  one 
can  of  condensed  milk  for  $2.50,  one  can  of 
butter  for  $5,  and  one  pound  of  sugar  for  $1.50, 
and  assured  you  that  they  were  the  last  in  the 
country.  To  look  out  across  the  flat  toward 
the  mountains  was  to  see  scattered  cabins  and 

piles  of  tin  cans,  which  at  once  let  one  into  the 

61 


w 


i 


IN  THE  KLOXDYKE 

culinary  secrets  of  an  isolated  community  com- 
posed largely  of  men.  At  the  restaurants, 
bacon  and  beans  and  coffee  cost  $2.50. 

For  a  time  in  the  winter  in  fear  of  famine 
the  well-to-do  hoarded  food  as  they  hoard  gold 
in  a  financial  panic,  and  the  restaurants  were 
closed  because  supplies  were  not  procurable  at 
prices  that  made  catering  profitable.  Then,  a 
fifty-pound  sack  of  flour  sold  for  as  high  as 
$100;  but  at  the  approach  of  spring  the  little 
capitalists  who  had  planned  to  sell  their  "cor- 
ners "  at  great  profit  were  glad  enough  to  dis- 
pose of  such  surplus  as  they  had  beyond  their 
own  needs  at  a  loss.  To  them  the  departure  of 
hundreds  of  mouths  which  otherwise  would 
have  been  fed  out  of  Dawson's  granary  was  as 
great  a  disappointment  as  a  report  that  Hun- 
gary's wheat  crop  would  greatly  exceed  expec- 
tations is  to  the  bulls  on  the  Chicago  Ex- 
change. All  of  the  luxuries  and  many  of  the 
necessities  of  life  were  scarce ;  but,  withal, 
there  was  quite  enough  of  bacon,  beans,  and 
flour  to  have  satisfied  the  appetites  o[  the 
whole  community  for  a  month  after  supplies 
arrived.  According  to  the  philosophy  of  the 
old-timers,  there  is  never  any  danger  of  a  man's 

starving  as  long  as  he  will  look  ahead  a  little. 

62 


DAWSON 


So  easy  is  it  to  sleep  and  so  little  does  one  eat 
when  one  is  not  working  that  he  can  live  on  a 
pound  of  food  a  day,  if  need  be,  and  take  the 
remainder  of  his  nourishment  in  slumber.  On 
the  other  hand,  vigorous  labor  in  winter  de- 
mands at  least  three  pounds  a  day,  and  it  is 
upon  this  basis  that  estimates  have  always  been 
made  in  the  valley  of  the  Yukon. 

With  a  tiny  can  of  cocoa,  which  I  pounced 
upon  in  a  store  as  if  it  were  an  Elzevir  in  a 
junk-heap,  and  a  few  staples  bought  at  extrava- 
gant prices,  we  were  able  to  prepare  a  superior 
meal  in  the  cabin  that  I  had  leased.  But  this 
was  not  until  we  had  slept  gloriously  for  six- 
teen hours.  There  remained  the  problem  of  a 
bath,  which  was  serious,  as  the  one  bath-house 
in  Dawson  was  closed  for  repairs.  I  solved  it 
legitimately,  if  uncomfortably,  in  the  wooden 
tub  which  was  lent  to  me  by  a  neighbor. 

The  saloons  had  only  a  substitute  for  whis- 
key, of  home  manufacture.  The  dance-halls 
were  not  open.  All  the  men  whose  dust  and 
presence  would  make  the  camp  lively  were  at 
the  mines — or  *'  up  the  creeks,"  as  the  saying 
goes  in  Dawson — preparing  for  the  "clean-up." 

In  winter  and  in  s'nnn^cr  the  trail  leads  up 
the  Klondykc  to  the  riout'i  of  Bonanza,  three 


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IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

miles  from  Dawson,  and  thence  up  Bonanza 
to  the  working-claims,  about  three  miles  far- 
ther on.  In  the  spring,  when  the  currents  are 
swollen,  you  must  go  over  a  high  mountain  by 
a  path  in  the  soft  snow.  If  you  have  a  pack, 
this  is  hard  work.  On  the  way  I  met  a  blue- 
faced  old  fellow — by  his  look  if  not  by  his  limp 
he  had  the  scurvy — who  promptly  put  me  in 
my  proper  social  status. 

"  Are  ye  a  Cheechawko  ? "  he  asked. 

"  I  don't  know,  I'm  sure." 

"  Well,  then,  ye  are,  and  the  river  must  'a* 
broke.  Any  man's  a  Cheechawko  until  he's 
been  in  the  country  when  the  ice  goes  out.  In 
the  old  days  we  could  lick  the  Cheechawkos 
into  shape ;  larn  'em  to  leave  their  latch-strings 
out  fur  a  passin'  stranger  when  they  was  away 
from  hum,  and  larn  'em  to  eat  what  they  wanted 
and  to  use  the  best  blanket  in  a  cabin,  but  to 
lug  nothin'  away.  Fifty  thousand  of  'em,  they 
say — clerks  and  farmers  and  dudes.  They're 
too  many  fur  us.  Civilization's  here,  and  it's 
a  case  of  locking  up  yer  dust  after  this.  But, 
young  man,  ye  can't  be  an  old-timer,  never  ! 
Ye  can't  be  an  old-timer,  'less  ye've  lived  in  the 
camps  in  the  old  days  when  a  man  was  a  man 

and  his  neighbor's  brother." 

64 


DAWSON 

And  without  giving  me  time  to  reply  to  his 
httle  lecture,  he  hobbled  on  toward  the  hospital. 

Cheechawko  is  the  Indian  word  for  stranger, 
or,  more  literally,  tenderfoot,  which  has  come 
into  general  use  in  the  Klondyke  ;  and  toward 
the  Cheechawko,  bringing  in  the  more  penuri- 
ous ways  of  the  outside  world,  along  with  igno- 
ranee  of  mining,  the  old-timer  feels  a  genuine 
resentment.  I  was  glad  of  the  opportunity  to 
see  the  veterans  ere  the  recruits  had  arrived. 


65 


i 


IV 


THE  FIRST  DISCOVERIES 

The  Beginning  of  Mining  in  Alaska — Forty  Mile  Creek — 
Canadian  and  American  Deposits — The  Largest  Log- 
Cabin  Town  IN  THE  World — Life  of  the  First  Advent- 
urers—  The  Superfluity  of  Six-Shooters  — Leaving 
THE  Latch-Strings  Out  —  The  Way  of  the  Trans- 
gressors— Indian  Charley  and  his  Nugget. 

A  LITTLE  history  of  placer  mining  in  the 
Yukon  valley,  at  this  turn  of  my  narrative, 
will  be  of  importance,  I  think,  in  making  what 
follows  more  comprehensible.  It  was  early  in 
the  eighties,  if  not  before,  that  the  first  pros- 
pectors, armed  with  Indian  tales,  faith,  and  a 
"gold  pan,"  packed  their  supplies  to  the  shores 
of  the  Lewes  lakes  over' the  passes  which  were 
the  means  of  communication  between  the 
Indians  of  the  coast  and  those  of  the  interior. 
They  followed  the  ice  out  of  the  lakes  and 
down  the  river  into  a  practically  unexplored 
country,  panning  out  of  the  gravel  at  the 
mouth  of  each  tributary. 

At  first,  these  and  the  other  brave  spirits  v;ho 

66 


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V       I 


THE  FIRST  DISCOVERIES 


were  encouraged  to  follow  their  example  ard- 
uously poled  their  boats  back  up-stream  in 
September,  with  the  result  of  their  summer's 
labor,  to  spend  the  winter  in  one  of  the  towns 
of  the  quartz-mining  region  in  southeastern 
Alaska  or  in  the  Pacific  Coast  States.  Some 
had  three  or  four  hundred  dollars ;  others,  who 
had  impatiently  disregarded  certain  "  pay  "  on 
the  bars  of  the  tributaries  and  had  prospected 
in  the  hope  of  making  a  great  "strike,"  re- 
turned with  little  or  nothing. 

Soon  they  began  to  take  in  enough  supplies 
to  last  them  through  the  winter,  and  to  build 
cabins  for  their  protection.  A  little  settlement 
sprang  up  on  the  site  of  the  "diggings"  of 
Forty  Mile  Creek.  All  of  the  rich  deposits 
thus  far  have  been  found  not  on  the  tributaries 
of  the  Yukon  but  on  the  tributaries  of  the 
tributaries.  (The  wealth  of  the  far-famed  Klon- 
dyke  is  not  on  the  Klondyke  River  but  on 
Eldorado  and  Bonanza,  which  flow  into  it.) 
So  the  next  progressive  step  was  a  discovery 
which  led  to  the  working  of  the  frozen  ground 
in  the  valleys  of  the  numerous  little  streams 
tributary  to  Forty  Mile,  by  stripping  off  the 
dirt  as  fast  as  the  very  hot  sun  of  the  long  days 

of  the  arctic  summer  thawed  it.     This  process, 

67 


f   ; 


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te' 


s  \ 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

however,  was  feasible  only  when  the  "  pay- 
dirt  "  was  near  to  the  surface,  and  the  season  of 
activity  was  still  restricted  to  four  or  five 
months  of  the  year. 

As  the  prospectors  moved  on  down  the 
river,  gradually  widening  the  circle  of  their 
labors  and  their  experience,  deposits  con- 
siderably richer  than  those  of  the  tributaries  of 
Forty  Mile  were  found  on  the  tributaries  of 
Birch  Creek  in  American  territory.  Here,  for 
the  first  time,  an  innovation,  which  did  not 
appeal  to  everybody,  made  it  feasible  to  work 
twelve  months  in  the  year.  An  energetic  man 
sank  a  shaft  to  bedrock  with  fires.  Then  he 
drifted  out  his  **  pay-dirt  "  in  the  same  manner 
and  piled  it  in  dumps  on  the  surface  to  be 
sluiced  out  in  summer.  By  the  autumn  of 
1896,  when  the  great  discovery  of  Bonanza 
Creek  was  made,  Circle  City  was  said  to  be 
the  largest  log-cabin  town  in  the  world,  and 
from  twenty-five  hundred  to  three  thousand 
white  men  dwelt  in  the  Yukon  valley. 

Experience  in  placer  mining  counted  for 
little  in  a  region  where  conditions  were  so 
different  from  those  of  the  Pacific  Coast 
States.  There  was  no  sprinkling  of  capitalists 
or    mining    engineers    among    those    robust 

68 


THE  FIRST  DISCOVERIES 


■/ 


pilgrims  of  the  early  days.  Many  of  the  hard- 
ships which  they  endured  are  already  a  mem- 
ory. They  were  cheered  in  their  combat 
with  nature  by  no  such  tales  as  lured  on  the 
Cheechawko?  of  1897-98.  The  majority  of 
them  came  from  the  frontiers  of  the  United 
States ;  a  smaller  part,  generally  of  French 
descent,  from  the  frontiers  of  Canada.  All 
were  peculiarly  the  product  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  bent  for  overcoming  obstacles.  Not  in- 
frequently there  were  fugitives  from  justice, 
who,  having  the  inclination  and  the  energy  to 
undergo  great  physical  trials  rather  than  serve  a 
term  in  prison,  and  learning  a  lesson  in  man- 
hood by  bitter  retrospection,  have  often  become 
heroic  pioneers.  More  numerous  than  the  in- 
habitants of  the  old  centres  of  civilization  would 
suppose  were  those  recluses  who  are  ever  seek- 
ing lonely  refuges  out  of  touch  with  the  advance 
posts  of  organized  society. 

There  was  no  prospect,  especially  when  no 
**  big  strikes "  had  been  reported,  to  attract 
the  idle  and  the  dissolute  who  infest  similar 
settlements  in  more  hospitable  countries.  Re- 
lieved of  the  parasitic  class  and  being  inter- 
dependent in  isolation  from  the  outside  world 
under  the  mo;?t  rigorous  conditions  for  eight 

69 


hi  i 

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H 


-:      : 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

months  in  the  year,  their  inhabitants,  despite 
the  '•  pasts  "  of  some  of  them,  made  Circle  City 
and  Forty  Mile  the  most  peaceable  of  mining 
camps.  Captain  Constantine,  of  the  British 
Northwest  Mounted  Police,  with  a  few  men, 
had  plenary  powers  at  Forty  Mile,  while  Circle 
City  was  nominally  governed  by  a  United 
States  Commissioner  and  a  United  States 
Marshal. 

All  the  white  women  in  both  communities 
could  be  counted  on  the  fingers  of  two  hands. 
Mrs.  Constantine,  the  wives  of  a  few  mission- 
aries and  of  a  few  leading  men,  had  come  in 
on  steamers  up  the  river  in  summer  to  join 
their  husbands.  Half  a  dozen  half-breed  wom- 
en, with  more  or  less  of  the  blood  of  Russian 
fur  traders  in  their  veins,  composed  the  demi- 
monde of  either  camp.  Full-blooded  squaws 
performed  the  household  duties  in  some  cabins 
for  a  civilized  lord  and  master.  But  the 
•'  squaw  man  "  was  the  exception.  In  no  part 
of  the  world  where  isolated  white  men  live 
among  aborigines  was  the  man  who  had  a  na- 
tive mistress  held  in  greater  disrespect  than 
here. 

As  a  rule,  the  miners  did  their  own  washing 

and  mending.     Their  amusements  were  card- 

70 


THE  FIRST  DISCOVERIES 


playing  and  checker-playing.  The  climate 
seemed  to  exercise  a  softening  effect  upon  bel- 
licose natures,  and  even  intoxication  seldom 
carried  quarrels  beyond  a  dispute  of  words. 
Whoever  struck  the  first  blow  had  the  con- 
sensus of  opinion  of  the  camp  against  him. 

"  We've  got  enough  to  do  fighting  Alaska," 
was  a  saying  which  sententiously  expressed 
the  general  feeling,  "without  fighting  one 
another." 

To  the  new-comer  it  was  hinted  that  a  six- 
shooter,  which  fiction  makes  the  inseparable 
companion  of  all  men  in  a  new  placer  mining 
camp,  was  a  superfluity  that  would  keep  him 
out  of  trouble  only  when  he  kept  it  at  all  times 
hanging  on  a  peg  in  his  cabin.  Its  weight 
alone  was  equal  to  two  days*  rations  in  a 
country  where  the  prospector  had  to  dispense 
with  his  helpmeet,  the  mule  or  the  burro,  and 
carry  his  grub  for  a  tour  on  his  back.  There- 
fore, arms  were  never  carried  unless  there  was 
a  chance  of  meeting  with  game. 

The  essence  of  the  '*  free  miners'  law  "  was 
being  on  the  "squar',"  wliich,  after  all,  is  a 
rough  equivalent  of  the  brotherhood  of  man. 
Between  the  disputants  as  to  the  ownership  of 


a  claim  the  *'  miners' 


meetmg 
71 


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Kill 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

one  was  in  the  right.  All  offenders  were 
brought  before  the  bar  of  their  fellows.  A 
man  accused  of  theft,  after  an  examination  of 
witnesses,  was  acquitted  or  convicted  by  the 
holding  up  of  hands.  If  guilty,  he  was,  ac- 
cording to  the  circumstances,  either  warned 
to  leave  the  country  for  good — no  slight  penal- 
ty in  midwinter  with  only  the  hospitality  of 
Indians  to  depend  upon — or  else  ostracism 
was  postponed  pending  good  behavior.  *•  Min- 
ers' meeting  law "  is  unscientific  and  rarely 
commendable,  but  here  it  served  its  purpose 
well  because  its  methods  made  it  so  seldom 
required. 

Under  the  force  of  self-interest  a  universal 
good-will  prevailed.  Whatever  a  miner  had 
— perhaps  the  increment  of  a  summer's  earn- 
ings which  was  to  pay  for  another  year's  sup- 
plies— he  kept  in  tomato  cans  on  the  table  of 
his  cabin  with  impunity.  When  he  went  away 
from  home  on  a  journey  to  some  other  creek 
he  left  his  latch-string  out.  On  the  very  even- 
ing of  his  absence,  while  his  cabin  was  oc- 
cupied by  another*  he  was,  perhaps,  sleeping 
in  someone  else's  without  an  invitation.  By 
the  unwritten  law  of  the  land  he  enjoyed 
whatever  luxuries  of  food  and  rest  the  cabin 

7» 


THE  FIRST  DISCOVERIES 

aflforded  ;  but,  likewise  by  the  unwritten  h\v 
of  the  land,  he  washed  any  dishes  that  he  had 
used  and  put  them  and  all  other  things  that 
he  had  disturbed  back  where  they  belonged, 
folded  the  blankets  on  the  bunk,  cut  firewood 
in  place  of  that  which  he  had  burned,  and  laid 
kindlings  by  the  stove  ready  to  make  warmth 
and  cheer  for  the  owner  when  he  should  return, 
cold  and  weary. 

Cheechawkos  who  came  down  the  river  in 
the  spring  in  their  rough  boat  at  iirst,  through 
ignorance,  were  often  transgressors  of  the  un- 
written laws.  But  so  few  arrived  at  a  time 
that  the  majority  were  soon  able  to  convince 
them  of  the  folly  of  courting  trouble  for  them- 
selves. Anyone  with  a  bad  record  could  not 
obtain  favors  or  a  loan  when  he  needed  it. 
After  he  had  consumed  the  supplies  which  he 
had  brought  into  the  country  with  him,  he 
must  rely  upon  the  transportation  companies, 
established  to  meet  the  demand  of  the  new 
settlements,  whose  river  steamers  connected 
with  ocean-going  vessels  at  the  island  of  St. 
Michael  in  Norton  Sound.  When  a  man 
had  been  unfortunate  in  his  summer's  vvork, 
a  reputation  for  probity  would  secure  from  the 
companies  a  year's  outfit  on  a  simple  promise 

73 


WW 


^f!: 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

to  pay.  In  treating  generously  the  real  pros- 
pector who  sought  new  fields,  they  only  had 
an  eye  to  their  own  interests  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  country.  Every  canned  and  pre- 
served delicacy  was  included  in  a  year's  sup- 
plies, costing  from  $5CX)  to  $600.  Canned 
plum  pudding  was  a  treat  for  the  holidays ; 
and  more  than  one  miner  ate  pdi^  de  foie  gras 
for  the  first  time  in  Circle  City  or  Forty  Mile. 
These  luxuries,  however,  were  no  substitutes 
for  fresh  fruits  and  fresh  vegetables. 

The  flat-bottomed  river  steamers  continued 
on  their  course  until  the  ice  in  the  river  led 
them  to  seek  a  slough  or  side  channel  for 
safety,  all  hands  preparing  to  spend  the  winter 
housed  up  on  board.  Then  no  more  Chee- 
chawkos'  boats  could  arrive,  and  the  camps 
were  as  completely  separated  from  the  out- 
side world  as  a  whaler  caught  in  the  ice  of 
Bering  Sea.  To  all  men,  including  the  re- 
cluses, a  "pardner"  was  essential.  For  the 
recluses  were  recluses  from  civilization  and  not 
from  fellow-men  of  their  own  tastes  ;  and  no 
one,  except  a  few  of  the  most  perverse,  under- 
took single-handed  to  put  up  a  cabin  or  to  live 
in  it  alone. 

The  "  town  "  was  on  the  river  bank  at  the 

74 


THE  FIRST  DISCOVERIES 

most  accessible  point  to  the  creeks  whose 
wealth  was  responsible  for  its  existence.  Its 
cabins  clustered  around  the  commercial  com- 
panies' stores  and  the  saloons.  To  one  side 
was  a  camp  of  Indians  and  the  mission  station 
which  ministered  to  their  spiritual  wants  and, 
following  the  paths  of  diplomacy,  to  the  spir- 
itual wants  of  the  miners — upon  request.  Fuel 
was  brought  from  the  hill-sides  and  food  was 
taken  to  the  cabins  on  the  creeks  by  teams  of 
husky  dogs. 

When  the  winter  settled  down  in  serene 
triumph  in  December  there  was  not  even  the 
falling  of  snow  to  disturb  the  calm  atmos- 
phere. The  fine  white  particles  under  foot, 
which  seemed  as  sharp  as  powdered  glass  to 
the  touch,  were  precipitated  invisibly,  like 
frost.  They  glistened  on  the  mountain-sides 
without  a  breath  of  air  to  stir  them.  In  the 
few  hours  of  gray  light  out  of  the  twenty-four, 
men  welcomed  the  sound  of  their  own  voices, 
or  even  the  howl  of  their  dogs,  to  break  the 
silence  which  was  the  fit  companion  of  the  dry, 
biting  cold.  At  night  they  forgave  the  still 
and  merciless  panorama  of  the  day  as  they 
watched  out  of  their  cabin-windows  the  play 
of  the  Northern   Lights,  in  which  nature  has 

75 


B^ 


M** 


m  ' 

Ml    i 

m  ' 
I! 


'■''   i 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

furnished  for  the  eyes  a  greater  treat  than  is 
the  breaking  of  surf  for  the  ears. 

With  the  coming  of  spring,  when  the  sun 
mounted  so  rapidly  in  the  heavens,  every  man 
had  his  opinion  and  his  reasons  for  it  as  to  the 
exact  date  when  the  ice  should  go  out  of  the 
Yukon.  After  this — the  greatest  event  of  the 
year — had  taken  place,  all  eyes  kept  a  lookout 
up-stream  for  the  first  pine-colored  boat  that 
should  dart  around  the  bend  with  the  rapidity 
of  the  current.  The  Cheechavvko  was  sur- 
rounded by  a  little  crowd  which  asked  him 
about  the  result  of  the  previous  November's 
elections,  or  if  France  and  Germany  had  gone 
to  war  as  indicated  by  an  August  paper  which 
the  community  had  been  reading  for  eight 
months. 

As  a  rule,  the  early  arrivals  had  been  in  the 
country  before.  They  knew  the  channels  and 
the  currents  of  the  river,  and  could  resist  the 
temptation  of  stopping  to  pan  the  gravel  of 
the  bars  in  search  of  colors,  for  the  old-timers 
had  long  since  concluded  that  the  travel-worn 
particles  of  dust  to  be  found  at  the  mouths  of 
all  of  the  tributaries  of  the  Yukon  which  are 
in  the  so-called  gold  belt,  were  vagrants  and 
not  the  advance  guard  of  a  floating  pilgrim- 

76 


THE  FIRST  DISCOVERIES 

age.  They  had  poled  weary  miles  in  their 
long  boats  and  carried  packs  for  wearier  ones 
without  finding  at  the  head-waters  of  the  tribu- 
taries, which  were  named  by  them  and  still 
await  accurate  mapping  by  geographers,  any 
original  deposits.  The  shallow  bedrock  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Forty  Mile  put  the  original 
deposits  there  within  reach  of  the  summer's 
sun  and  the  superficial  investigation  of  the 
hurrying  prospector,  and  opened  the  way  to 
the  discovery  of  richer  original  deposits  at 
Circle  City  at  a  slightly  greater  depth  of  bed- 
rock. 

So  the  miners  had  concluded  that  the  next 
great  strike,  following  the  progress  of  develop- 
ment down  the  river,  would  be  made  below 
Circle  City.  On  account  of  an  Indian's  keen 
glance  the  contrary  happened,  and  they  re- 
traced their  footsteps  to  find  fortunes  at  a  depth 
of  thirty  feet  under  soil  whose  surface  they 
had  trod  before.  The  sharp-eyed  Indian  was 
a  brother-in-law  of  "  Siawash  George,"  and 
"  Siawash  George "  was  an  outcast,  whose 
nickname  was  given  to  him  by  his  fellow  white 
men.  The  Siawashes  are  one  of  the  lowest 
orders  of  the  American  Indians,  and  the  old- 
timers,  so  largely  men  from  the  Pacific  Coast, 

77 


fil 


li  (I 


¥'' 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

use  Siavvash  both  as  a  noun  and  as  an  adjective 
to  signify  contempt.  One  of  the  first  white 
pilgrims  to  cross  the  passes,  Cormac,  was  now 
the  father  of  three  or  four  half-breed  children- 
He  had  planned  that  his  marriage  to  a  prin- 
cess of  the  tribe  would  be  the  stepping-stone 
of  his  ambition  to  become  chief  of  the  Sticks. 
In  the  autumn  of  1896  he  and  his  family  and 
retainers  were  encamped  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Klondyke,  gathering  from  the  land  and  the 
water,  according  to  aboriginal  custom  but  with 
modern  riffles  and  hooks,  their  winter  supply  of 
provender. 

The  Klondyke  is  one  of  the  best  rivers  in 
the  neighborhood  for  fish,  much  better  than 
the  Indian  River,  which  flows  into  the  Yukon 
between  thirty  and  forty  miles  above  it.  At 
the  summit  of  the  water-shed  between  the 
Indian  and  the  Klondyke  is  a  great  mountain, 
which,  from  its  shape,  the  miners  have  named 
The  Dome.  In  the  snows  of  its  sides  six 
creeks  have  their  origin,  three  flowing  into 
either  stream.  The  longest  of  these  is  sixteen 
miles.  They  wind  through  beds  of  black 
muck,  ranging  from  fifty  to  two  hundred  and 
fifty  yards  in  breadth,  which  lie  between  steep 
embankments.     It  is  presumed  that  the  em- 

78 


•a 
a 

c 
o 

3 


w 


E   ! 


Mi  ■ 


■A 

l 


|H:,< 


II; 


Hi  i  ^ 

m  *  ■ 


tit  }i 


f  T 


;l'  ,5 


^»     f. 
'      i 
i 
( 


& 


THE  FIRST  DISCOVERIES 

bankments  are  the  walls  of  an  ancient  river 
channel.  They  are  indented  only  by  the 
gulches  cut  by  tributaries  which  once  were 
mighty  but  now  have  dwindled  to  little  tor- 
rents  which  flourish  only  with  the  first  warmth 
of  spring  or  after  a  heavy  rain  in  summer. 
The  great  heat  of  June,  July,  and  August  drew 
out  of  the  muck  with  a  growth  of  tropical  ra- 
pidity a  rank  grass  upon  which  the  moose  fed 
in  peace,  fattening  his  sides,  made  lean  by 
winter's  privations. 

Here  "  Injun  Sharley,"  as  he  called  himself, 
came  to  look  for  moose,  and  here  he  found  in- 
stead, as  he  was  crossing  the  first  tributary  of 
the  Klondyke   at   a   poinL  where  its  bending 
course  had  dug  a  niche  out  of  the  side-hill,  a 
glistening  nugget  of  gold.     According  to  all  of 
the   preconceived  ideas   of  the  placer  mining 
prospectors,  no  creeks  in  the  region  were  so  un^ 
promising  as  these.      Those  few  prospectors 
who  had  tramped  up  this  valley,  finding  a  few 
colors  in  the  shoals  made  by  washing  the  earth 
of  the  embankment,  had  passed  them  by  with 
the  ever-ready  expression  of  the  country  : 
"  Oh,  well,  you  can  find  colors  anywhere." 
If  the  turn  of  the  creek  had  not  washed  one 
stray  nugget  as  well  as  stray  colors  out  of  a 

79 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 


: 


l-f 


I 


Mi        : 


bench  which  no  one  found  worth  working  two 
years  after  discovery,  the  moose  might  still  be 
feeding  undisturbed  in  the  valleys  of  Eldorado 
and  Bonanza  creeks,  which  are  now  as  expres- 
sive of  man's  handiwork  as  the  rear  of  a  row  of 
tenement  houses,  and  certain  unhappy  news- 
paper correspondents  would  not  have  missed 
the  Spanish-American  War. 

There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  "  Siawash 
George,"  personally,  had  any  great  confidence 
in  the  **  strike."  Rather — after  having  staked 
creek  claims  for  himself  and  "Injun  Sharley" 
— he  thought  it  worth  advertising,  when  adver- 
tising was  so  cheap  because  of  the  expert 
canoists  and  good  pedestrians  in  his  family. 
He  was  further  assisted  in  spreading  the  news 
by  Joe  La  Due,  another  "  squaw  man,"  who 
has  been  erroneously  called  Father  of  the  Klon- 
dyke,  just  as  "  Siawash  George,"  and  not  "  In- 
jun Sharley,"  has  been  called  its  discoverer. 
La  Due  staked  out  a  town-site  on  the  flat 
which  had  been  formed  in  the  course  of  time 
by  the  alluvial  deposits  of  the  Klondyke  at  its 
mouth.  He  was  fond  of  "booms,"  and  as  a 
part  of  his  plan  of  promoting  his  latest  boom 
he  offered  lots  for  five  dollars  apiece  to  all  who 

would  stake  claims  on  the  new  creeks.    Neither 

80 


THE  FIRST  DISCOVERIES 

he  nor  "  Siawash  George  "  had  much  to  lose 
and  they  might  gain  a  great  deal  if  shafts  were 
sunk  to  bedrock  with  fires  after  the  plan  that 
had  lately  come  into  vogue  at  Circle  City. 

When  an  Indian  arrived  at  Forty  Mile  and 
then  at  Circle  City  with  a  tale  out  of  all  pro- 
portion to  the  actual  size  of  the  nugget  that 
'•Injun  Sharley"  had  found,  the  miners  re- 
ceived it  with  that  garlic  cynicism  which  has  its 
natural  abiding-place  in  the  unkempt  beards  of 
hardened  frontiersmen.  They  had  become  so 
used  to  strikes  with  no  foundation  except  an 
irresponsible  imagination,  as  nominally  to  be- 
lieve in  nothing  that  a  man  said  about  any  find 
he  had  made.  So  they  told  the  Indian  that  he 
was  a  liar  pure  and  simple,  who  had  been 
primed  by  an  ambitious  brother-in-law.  The 
Indian  had  been  told  to  expect  this  reply  and 
was  not  the  least  disturbed  in  mind  by  it.  But 
no  miner  acts  upon  his  convictions  in  such  a 
matter.  He  usually  hurries  off  to  the  reported 
scene  of  the  find  because,  after  all,  "mebbe 
there  might  be  somethin'  in  it."  But  such 
were  the  reputations  of  Joe  La  Due  and  Cor- 
mac  that  many  of  the  earlier  pioneers  refused 
to  budge.  Their  superior  wisdom  was  as  un- 
fortunate for  them  as  absence  from  the  settle- 

8i 


i    - 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 


f 


ill 


hi 


ni 


ments  was  for  those  at  work  on  the  creeks. 
The  two  or  three  hundred,  lounging  in  the 
saloons  and  the  stores  or  resting  in  their  cabins, 
who  made  for  the  mouth  of  the  Klondyke  in  the 
mood  of  men  who  are  playing  a  joke  on  them- 
selves, became  rich. 

There  were  not  enough  claims  on  the  dis- 
covery creek,  Bonanza,  for  all  of  them,  so  the 
later  arrivals,  just  for  the  sake  of  staking  sorr.o- 
thing,  contemptuously  staked  a  tributary  of 
Bonanza,  which  they  called  in  their  phrase  a 
"  pup."  Then  there  was  naught  to  do  but  to 
wait  until  a  few  of  the  more  energetic  fellows 
sunk  holes  on  Bonanza.  No  one  was  more 
surprised  at  the  result  than  "  Siawash  George." 
Bedrock  on  Bonanza  showed  the  richest  placer 
dirt  yet  found  in  Alaska  or  the  LJritish  North- 
west Territory.  Those  who  had  been  in  time  to 
stake  claims  on  Bonanza  settled  down  to  work 
at  once,  incidentally  extending  their  pity  to  the 
fellows  on  the  "  pup."  The  claim-owners  on 
Eldorado,  where  no  shaft  had  been  sunk,  ac- 
cepted the  pity  in  good  part  and  offered  their 
claims  at  various  prices,  ranging  from  one  hun- 
dred to  five  hundred  dollars.  Most  of  them 
were  so  lucky  as  to  be  unable  to  make  a  sale, 

and  are  now  worth  from  five  hundred  thousand 

82 


THE  FIRST  DISCOVERIES 

to  a  million   dollars  apiece.      The  ''pup"  is 
the  richest  placer  mining  creek  in  the  world. 

Nine  months  after  **  Injun  Shurley "  had 
brought  home  a  nugget  instead  of  a  moose,  the 
outside  world  heard  of  the  great  discovery. 
Such  pilgrims,  attracted  by  the  news,  as  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  Dawson  in  the  autumn  of 
1897  found  that  all  creeks  rising  on  the  slopes 
of  The  Dome  and  all  other  creeks  at  that  time 
proven  to  be  worth  the  working,  had  already 
been  staked  by  the  old-timers  who  had  followed 
the  advance  guard  from  Circle  City  and  Forty 
Mile.  Feverish  stampede  followed  on  feverish 
stampede  to  new  ground.  That  putting  down 
four  stakes  in  a  creek-bed  anywhere  in  the  re- 
gion was  equal  to  drawing  a  fortune  from  a  bank 
became  the  gospel  of  the  hour,  which  received 
its  authority  from  the  original  attitude  toward 
the  "  pup  "  of  the  men  who  had  staked  Eldo- 
rado. A  man  needed  only  to  come  iniu  a  sa- 
loon with  a  pack  on  his  back,  and,  being  tired, 
appear  silent  and  mysterious,  to  excite  the  sus- 
picion that  he  had  made  a  '*  strike."  "  Only  an 
affidavit "  of  having  found  "  color  "  was  neces- 
sary to  have  a  discovery  claim  recorded,  and  a 
discovery  always  meant  a  stampede.  Having 
received  a  hint  from  a  friend,  or  overheard  a 

83 


T 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

whispered  conversation  in  the  street,  a  pilgrim 
would  rush  off  for  a  distance  of  more  than  a 
day's  travel,  without  food  or  blankets,  trusting 
to  luck  to  feed  him  and  keep  him  warm. 
Death  was  often  the  result. 

Having  staked  the  remaining  creeks  in  a  ra- 
dius of  from  thirty  to  sixty  miles  of  Dawson, 
some  of  the  new-comers  rested  in  their  cabins, 
eating  their  winter's  supply  of  food.  Others 
found  employment  on  the  work-claims ;  and 
still  others  departed  over  the  ice  to  escape 
starvation  and  to  thrill  their  neighbors  at  home 
with  the  information  that  they  owned  claims. 
As  the  humor  of  the  saloons  went,  there  re- 
mained for  the  oncoming  host  of  May  and 
June  an  expanse  of  unexplored  territory  suffi- 
cient to  keep  a  hundred  times  their  number 
busy  prospecting  for  a  century,  but  no  gold  at 
all,  unless  they  could  find  it  for  themselves. 


84 


V 

MINERS   AND  MINING 
Reaping  the  Gold  Harvest-Thawing  and  Sluicing-Miners 

AND    THEIR    TheORIES-ThE     DoME-ExPENSIVE     TIMBER- 

Empty  Pockets  but  Dollars  in  the  Dumps-The  First 

MnuONNAIRES-COLOR    IN    THE    PaN-ONCE   A    PROSPECTOR 

Always  a  Prospector-Figuring  Fortunes-Capitalists 
IN  Demand-The  Forty  Happy  Kings  on  E.dorado. 

T  T  was  juct  on  the  eve  of  h--  rvest-time  when 
1    I  first  visited  the  creeks.     In  a  day  or  two 
the  flow  of  water  from  the  gulches  where  the 
snow  lay  thickest  would  make  a  head  sufficient 
to  wash  the  yellow  grain   out  of  the  dumps. 
Along  the  four  miles  of  Eldorado,  or  its  full 
length,  and  the  ten  miles  of  working  claims  on 
Bonanza,  lines  of  flumes  and  their  dependent 
sluice-boxes— the  lumber  for  which  had  been 
drawn  on  sleds  from  Dawson  by  husky  dogs, 
or    cut    with    whipsaws—formed    a    network 
around  tl;e  string  of  cabins  occupied  by  claim- 
owners  and   their  workmen    and   around    the 
piles  of  clayish-colored  dirt,  thawed  out   inch 
by  inch  during  the  short  winter  days,  which 

85 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

contained  virgin  wealth  amounting  to  ten  mill- 
ion dollars.  The  hill-sides,  once  covered  with 
timber,  were  bare  of  all  except  stumps  and 
scarred  by  broad  streaks  from  top  to  bottom, 
showing  where  logs  for  building  the  cabins 
and  for  feeding  the  fires  in  the  drifts  had 
been  slid  down. 

If  you  descended  by  the  shafts  beside  the 
dumps  to  the  drifts,  you  soon  comprehended 
that  reaping  the  harvest,  once  you  have  a 
claim,  is  not  so  easy  as  picking  wild  cran- 
berries. It  is  dogged  work  to  build  fires  day 
after  day,  running  the  risk  of  suffocation  and 
permanent  injury  to  the  eyes  by  the  smoke, 
and  pulling  up  the  dirt,  bucketful  after  bucket- 
ful, by  means  of  a  windlass,  with  the  thermom- 
eter forty  below  zero — and  the  prospect  of 
cooking  your  own  dinner.  The  rising  steam 
from  the  thawing  pay-dirt  of  the  drifts,  w^hich 
fills  the  valley  with  mist,  adds  the  discomfort 
of  humidity  to  the  biting  cold.  Though  the 
man  who  turns  the  windlass  may  have  to  beat 
his  hands  and  dance  about  to  keep  warm,  he 
is  never  in  positive  danger  as  is  his  partner 
below,  who,  in  returning  to  relight  one  of  the 
series  of  nicely  arranged  piles  of  wood  which 
have  failed  to  ignite,  is  likely  to  be  suffocated, 

80 


MINERS  AND   MINING 

or,  barring  such  slips  as  this  or  any  consequent 
accident,  is  sure  to  suffer  continually  from 
soreness  and  smarting  of  the  eyes,  if  not  to 
have  them  permanently  injured  by  the  smoke. 

In  one  spot  of  three  or  four  square  feet  on 
Eldorado,  the  nuggets  are  so  thick  that  you 
can  pick  them  out  by  hand  as  a  farmer's  boy 
picks  potatoes  out  of  a  hill.  In  juxtaposition 
there  may  be  as  many  more  square  feet  which 
are  not  considered  worth  thawing  and  sluicing ; 
and  so  the  angles  of  the  drifts  seem  like  the 
path  of  a  man  of  vacillating  mind  trying  to 
make  his  way  to  the  light  in  darkness.  From 
two  to  three  feet  above  the  real  bedrock  is  the 
false  bedrock,  a  stratum  of  str  ne  broken  into 
angular  fragments,  apparently  by  some  great 
force  passing  overhead.  Between  the  two  is 
the  best  paying-dirt,  and  occasionally  here  is 
found,  perhaps  with  particles  of  gold  sticking 
to  it,  the  tusk  of  a  mammoth  who  was  the 
ruler  in  the  valley  before  the  days  of  the  moose. 

In  the  angular  fragments  of  the  false  bed- 
rock the  miners  who  are  fond  of  making  out 
the  reason  of  things  over  their  cabin-fires,  with 
diversified  reading  in  newspapers  or  even  a 
dip  in  a  text-book  of  geology  at  school  as  basic 
knowledge,  find  support  for  their  favorite  the- 

87 


T 


1    Jl  i 


,;!; 


m 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

ory  as  to  how  the  yellow  particles  came  to 
their  resting-place.  Gold  had  never  been  found 
before  in  such  incongruous  surroundings. 
Therefore,  they  contend,  it  must  have  been 
borne  from  its  point  of  precipitation  by  some 
force  worthy  of  the  situation'  and  of  Alaska, 
where  nature  has  a  gift  for  seemingly  para- 
doxical performances  done  on  a  Brobdingna- 
gian  scale.  What  else  but  a  glacier  was  equal 
to  the  feat?  It  had  scattered  wealth  in  its 
progress  like  some  good  Lady  Bountiful,  crush- 
ing with  its  great  weight  the  false  bedrock 
between  whose  fragments  the  dust  had  fallen 
by  force  of  gravity  to  the  true  bedrock. 

Another,  a  smaller  and  perforce  a  more  con- 
fident school  of  thought,  holds  that  an  ancient 
volcano  ** coughed"  the  dust  out  of  t'  e  bowels 
of  the  earth. 

For  my  part,  inasmuch  as  the  geologists 
themselves  have  come  to  no  certain  conclu- 
sion, I  hold  that  all  the  gold  which  has  been 
found  in  the  Klondyke  and  Indian  River  dis- 
tricts was  smelted  m  a  great  pot  in  The  Dome 
and  has  leaked  out  of  its  cracks.  Then,  as  a 
fitting  corollary,  I  desire  that  one  day  an  old 
forty-niner,  as  sturdy  and  as  fine  as  an  old 
weather-beaten  oak,  shall  discover  the  pot  and 

88 


) 


been 
r  dis- 
)ome 
as  a 
old 
old 
and 


<u 

u 

c 

o 


LI       * 


¥'■ 


i 


>  -  ■ 


M 


MINERS  AND   MINING 

find  a  leverage  strong  enough  to  lift  the  cover 
off  it ;  whereupon,  a  good  guardian,  gently- 
reserving  enough  of  his  millions  to  give  him  a 
certain  annuity  for  life,  he  may  spend  the  rest 
in  'Frisco  after  the  manner  of  his  own  choos- 
ing as  quickly  as  he  can.  But  I  am  certain — 
such  is  the  irony  of  fate — that,  instead  of  him, 
the  happy  man  will  be  an  Oklahoma  "boomer," 
the  father  of  several  strapping  daughters,  who 
never  panned  a  handful  of  dirt  before  he 
mortgaged  his  all  in  order  to  buy  a  Klondyker's 
outfit.  He  will  set  his  daughters  up  in  the 
capitals  of  Europe,  where  they  will  marry 
continental  noblemen,  while  the  whole  family 
will  be  miserable  for  life. 

In  candor,  I  must  say  that  with  mine  as 
with  most  theories  there  are  facts  which  go 
to  contradict  it.  The  claims  on  the  upper 
reaches  of  the  creeks,  which  have  their  ongin 
on  the  slopes  of  The  Dome,  are  much  richer 
than  those  on  the  lower  reaches,  where  the 
dust  is  finer  and  more  travel-worn  as  well  as 
more  scattering.  But  in  the  head-waters  noth- 
ing has  yet  been  found  which  is  worth  the 
working.  So  either  all  the  gold  leaked  out 
some  time  before  this  force  that  carried  it 
ceased    to    operate,   or    the    mythical    person 

89 


' 


li 


f;[t 


:* ;: 


'ii 


I  ! 


3- 


ill 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

who  has  charge  of  the  pot  mended  the  cracks, 
or,  possibly — and  this  is  my  hope — the  fort- 
unes which  have  already  been  brought  to  light 
were  only  an  overflow,  the  palpable  result  of 
the  chemist  in  charge  of  the  vessel  having 
misjudged  its  capacity. 

By  the  fifteenth  of  May  the  drifts  wereT' filled 
or  partly  filled  with  seepage  which  had  frozen 
below  a  depth  of  a  few  feet,  where  the  temper- 
ature is  nev'er  above  freezing.  Work  in  them 
was  at  an  end  by  the  first  of  May,  when  the 
surface  earth  had  begun  to  thaw  a  little  at  mid- 
day. Then  the  plane,  saw,  and  hammer  took 
the  place  of  the  pick  and  shovel.  If  they  had 
used  rosewood  at  New  York  or  London  prices 
the  miners  could  not  have  built  their  flumes  and 
sluice-boxes  out  of  more  expensive  material 
than  that  they  had  in  the  warping,  knotty  fir 
boards  which  were  condescendingly  sold  at 
$250  a  thousand  by  the  three  saw-mills  in  tlie 
country.  Once  the  flume;*  were  laid  to  the 
gulches  and  to  the  dams  in  the  creek  itself,  the 
sluice-boxes  were  properly  laid  on  the  dumps 
which  were  to  be  washed  first  and  the  gates 
between  the  two  were  made  tight,  the  com- 
munity was  ready  to  reap  the  reward  of  a 
winter's  toil  as  soon  as  the  sun  should  thaw 

go 


MINERS   AND   MINING 


the  drifts  of  snow  on  the  mountain-sides  suffi- 
ciently to  make  a  sluice-head  of  water. 

There  followed   a  brief  period  of  inactivity- 
like  that  between  sowing  and  harvest  for  the 
farmer.     Every  man   had  his  opinion  of  how 
much  the  output  of  all  the  creeks  would  be, 
and  the  estimates  varied  from  six  to  fifteen 
millions.     Within  the  big  world  of  speculation 
there  were  the  small  worlds  of  the  groups  of 
cabins   which   clustered     around  that   of  the 
owner  of  each  claim  on  Eldorado  and  Jonan- 
za.     For  the  laymen  who  had  taken  portions 
of  claims  to  work  on  shares  and  for  the  claim- 
owners,  especially  those  who  had  employed  the 
workers  on  their  claims  at  daily  wages,  it  was 
an  interval   of    some    anxiety.     They   would 
soon  know  in  what  measure  the  estimates  that 
they  had   made   from   specimens  of  pay-dirt 
panned  out  in  buckets  of  water  in  their  cabins 
during   the   winter   would    be   verified.     Men 
who  had  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars in  their  dumps  possibly  had  not  five  dollars 
in  cash  in  their  possession. 

The  members  of  no  community  had  ever 
been  submitted  to  a  greater  burden  of  usury. 
They  bore  it  with  rare  good-nature.  What 
else   were    they  to   do?    they   asked.      They 

91 


l\ 


IS 


I 


:    1 
J 

I         i 


;t^ 


' 


lit        B 


il 


i 

la; 


mi 


(I 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

needed  money  for  wages,  for  food  for  their 
men,  and  for  lumber,  and  those  in  town  who 
had  money  knew  the  value  of  it.  The  regular 
rate  in  the  winter  was  ten  per  cent,  a  month, 
and  some  of  the  so-called  millionnaires  who 
had  owned  nothing  except  an  outfit  two  years 
before  were  owing  as  much  as  $25,000  on 
from  three  to  six  months'  time. 

A  spirit  of  optimism  and  good  cheer  pre- 
vailed. A  sun  bath,  lounging  in  a  home-made 
chair  on  the  stoop  of  a  cabin  (perhaps  with  a 
pair  of  moose  horns  forming  an  ornamental 
back),  was  a  luxury  better  appreciated  in  the 
Klondyke  than  in  a  temperate  clime.  Some- 
times a  breeze,  with  a  faint  odor  of  fir-trees 
and  of  the  many  wild  flowers  which  spring  up 
in  tropical  luxuriance  in  the  spring,  came 
down  the  valley.  Over  the  hills  were  young 
birches  which  yielded  a  delicious  sap  for  the 
tapping.  There  was  even  gratitude  to  the 
tyrant  windlass  of  the  winter  days  in  that  it 
had  supplied  exercise,  given  an  appetite,  kept 
the  blood  circulating,  and  prevented  the  scurvy, 
which  is  to  oe  dreaded  only  by  the  man  who 
lounges  in  his  cabin,  does  not  wash  himself, 
does  not  cook  his  food  properly,  and  endea- 
vors generally   to   imitate   the   bear.     Nearly 

92 


'■  t; 


MINERS   AND   MINING 


everyone  could  hope,  if  he  did  not  expect,  that 
his  claim  or  his  lay  would  turn  out  as  well  as 
he  had  estimated.  At  all  events,  he  would  have 
some  spending  money.  He  knew  that  the 
early  boats  from  Lake  Le  Barge  would  bring 
in  many  luxuries  just  at  the  opportune  mo- 
ment when  the  "  clean-up  "  was  about  finished 
and  he  might  go  to  "town."  He  smacked  his 
lips  in  anticipation  of  the  day  when  he  would 
have  all  the  eggs  that  he  could  eat,  regardless 
of  their  cost. 

One  day  the  sun  suddenly  beat  down  with 
great  fierceness,  which  was  unabated  for  several 
days.  Then  the  water  came  gushing  down  the 
flumes  in  greater  quantity  than  was  needed, 
and  the  men  picked  up  their  picks  and  shovels 
again  and  began  peeling  off  the  dirt  on  the 
dumps  and  tossing  it  into  the  sluice-boxes. 
The  warmth  was  prolonged  through  the  night, 
so  that  the  dirt  continued  to  thaw  as  fast  as 
they  could  strip  it  off,  and  on  many  claims — 
whose  owners  had  foresight  or  were  in  luck,  as 
one  pleases  to  put  it— there  were  two  shifts 
working  all  the  time  except  when,  once  or 
twice  a  day,  the  boxes  were  being  "  cleaned  " 
of  the  accumulation  of  gold  and  the  sand  which 
sinks  with  it  between  the  cleats.     The  snow- 

93 


it 


lil 


^n 


11 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

drifts  were  melting  as  if  they  were  under  a 
blowpipe.  Even  the  tiny  streams  of  the  gulches 
become  torrents,  dams  had  to  be  opened, 
and  some  sluice-boxes  floated  away  from  their 
moorings.  Only  too  soon  was  the  loss  of  the 
wasted  energy  brought  home.  With  the  snow 
gone  and  rains  and  the  seepage  from  the  thaw- 
ing surface  the  only  source  of  water  supply, 
the  currents  dwindled  until  many  claims  had 
not  a  single  sluice-head.  The  claim-owners  on 
the  tributary  Eldorado,  with  as  much  dirt  to 
wash  as  the  main  stream  Bonanza,  particularly 
had  cause  to  resent  the  prodigality  of  nature  in 
expending  all  of  its  ammunition  at  once.  In- 
stead of  having  finished  their  washing  in  June 
as  they  had  confidently  expected,  all  through 
July  they  were  measuring  the  head  of  water 
from  hour  to  hour  with  the  care  of  a  physician 
feeling  a  patient's  pulse. 

When  the  **  clean-up  "  of  a  day's  shovelling 
was  made,  you  might  feast  your  eyes  on  the 
consummation  of  the  harvest.  The  water  was 
shut  off  and  the  cleats  in  the  boxes  were  lifted 
and  rinsed,  leaving  a  residue  which  glistened 
with  yellow  particles.  Just  a  small  stream 
was  turned  on  by  the  man  at  the  water-gates, 
who  was  probably  making  the  most  of  his  rest 

94 


It   ■: 


MINERS   AND   MINING 

from  shovelling  by  smoking  a  pipe  of  cut  plug, 
and  then  turned  off  again,  or  on  a  little  more 
or  off  a  little  less,  while  the  most  expert  miner 
on  the  claim  pushed  the  speckled  sand-pile 
back  and  forth  with  a  common  brush-broom 
until  all  the  foreign  particles  had  floated  off,  ex- 
cept a  sprinkling  of  the  heavy  black  sand  which 
is  invariably  the  companion  of  placer  gold. 

Three  or  four  or  five  thousand  dollars — per- 
haps ten  or  fifteen  or  twenty  thousand  if  the 
"  clean-up  "  be  on  Eldorado — which  is  three 
or  four  or  five  double  handfuls,  is  put  into 
a  pan  with  an  ordinary  fire-shovel.  The  sight 
is  bound  to  make  your  blood  run  faster  and 
to  color  your  reason  with  an  epic  enthusi- 
asm. That  little  yellow  pile,  you  know  at  a 
glance,  will  stand  the  test  of  chemicals.  It 
must  also  accept  the  concrete  responsibility 
for  all  the  disappointments,  sufferings,  and 
deaths  of  the  pilgrims  on  the  trail  and  the 
worries  of  their  friends  and  relatives  at  home. 
Once  you  have  seen  a  "  color  "  in  the  bottom 
of  a  pan  with  the  black  sand  following  it 
around  like  a  faithful  servant,  you  can  never 
again  be  deceived  by  the  glitter  of  any  false 
gods.  You  would  know  it  if  you  saw  it  be- 
tween cobblestones  on  Broadway,  or  if  it  were 

95 


ii  If 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 


^1 


no  larger  than  a  pin-head  at  the  bottom  of  a 
trout-pool. 

It  is  small  wonder  that  once  a  man  is  a  pros- 
pector, in  good  faith,  not  a  child  of  a  wild  stam- 
pede, he  is  always  a  prospector.  There  is  an 
heroic  aspect,  the  more  charming  in  contrast  to 
the  complexity  of  civilization,  in  going  from 
creek  to  creek  which  have  no  place  on  the 
maps  of  geographical  societies,  taking  a  pan  of 
dirt  here  and  a  pan  of  dirt  there,  breathing 
fresh  air,  a  zest  given  to  your  exercise  by  the 
hope  of  success. 

For  the  moment,  the  yellow  pile  makes  you 
feel  like  seeking  a  claim  of  your  own  and  har- 
vesting its  treasure  for  yourself.  But  when 
you  look  at  the  miry  path  along  the  base  of  the 
mountain  by  the  creek-side,  and  think  of  fol- 
lowing it  with  a  pack  on  your  back  until  it 
is  no  more,  and  a  wilderness  begins ;  of  pass- 
ing on  over  the  mountains  until  you  come  to 
what  you  consider  a  likely  place,  and  thawing 
through  thirty  feet  of  earth  at  a  rate  of  a  foot 
a  day  in  the  hap-hazard  possibility  of  finding 
"  pay-dirt,"  you  conclude  that  the  poetry  of  the 
thing  can  be  better  appreciated  by  sitting  on 
someone  else's  dump. 

Besides,  as  one  who  did  a  little  prospecting 

96 


MINERS   AND   MINING 

on  his  own  account  and  is  proud  to  say  that  he 
found  a  few  '*  colors  " — which  is  just  what  any- 
one else  can  do  in  the  Klondyke  region — I 
observed  that  the  recent  arrivals  of  Nestorian 
prospectors  who  took  a  delight  in  quoting  to 
you  from  Emerson  when  their  hands  were 
reeking  with  clay  and  their  gray  locks  were 
sticking  through  the  crowns  of  old  hats,  do  not 
like  Alaska,  though  free  to  admit  its  material 
opportunities.  They  could  not  be  weaned 
from  the  temperate  climate  and  the  skies  of 
California,  and  were  determined  to  return  to 
their  old  stamping-grounds,  where  any  honest 
prospector  can  get  a  grubstake  from  a  specu- 
lative city  man,  and  needs  nothing  more  to 
make  him  happy  and  free. 

After  a  few  days'  washing  the  hopes  of  most 
of  the  laymen  were  shattered ;  and  so  far  as 
their  peace  of  mind  was  concerned,  the  worst  of 
it  was  that  they  had  only  their  own  lack  of  fore- 
sight to  blame.  They  had  learned  that  even  in 
the  Klondyke  men  do  not  make  a  practice  of 
giving  fortunes  away  to  strangers — except  to 
music-hall  artistes — though,  as  in  the  centres 
of  civilization,  they  often  negotiated  a  bargain 
with  an  air  of  self-sacrifice  which  is  an  assump- 
tion of  as  much. 

97 


w 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 


Ell 

m 


ih  .^ 


%  ', 


Such  was  the  attitude  of  many  of  the  claim- 
owners  below  the  discovery  claim  on  Bonanza 
and  of  a  few  above  who  had  prospected  their 
claims  well  enough  to  have  some  idea  of  what 
was  in  them.  They  concluded  to  let  out  their 
ground  to  be  worked  on  shares,  two  men  to 
each  section,  which  is  called  a  lay.  Many,  es- 
pecially those  who  had  come  in  with  the  little 
pilgrimage  that  reached  Dawson  in  the  autumn 
of  '97,  were  enraptured  over  the  chance  of  get- 
ting a  portion  of  a  claim  on  the  original  creek 
and  not  far  from  "  discovery,"  at  that. 

The  number  of  applications  quite  exceeded 
the  number  of  lays  to  be  let,  and  all  through 
the  winter  the  laymen  on  Bonanza  were  the 
envy  of  their  fellows.  The  samples  which  they 
washed  out  in  their  cabins  had  the  peculiarity 
of  bringing  promises  up  to  original  expecta- 
tions, because  the  laymen  had  the  weakness 
of  selecting  the  samples  from  their  best  dirt. 
When  the  man  who  was  in  the  drift  came  to 
one  of  those  rare  spots  in  the  pay-streak  of 
Lower  Bonanza  where  he  could  see  the  tiny 
particles  shining  in  the  wall  of  earth  like  gold- 
en hoar-frost,  he  gleefully  called  out  to  his 
"  pardner  "  at  the  windlass  to  take  it  into  the 

cabin  so  they  could  see  how  much  it  ran  to  the 

98 


MINERS   AND   MINING 


s 
e 
e 


bucket.  In  the  evening  the  happy  children, 
upon  the  result  as  a  basis,  quite  overestimating 
the  amount  of  dirt  they  had  in  their  dumps, 
figured  out  small  fortunes  for  themselves,  spoke 
of  the  claim-owner  as  a  good  angel,  hugged 
their  knees  fondly,  as  if  they  had  materialized 
into  dust,  and  saw  brilliant  pictures  in  their 
smoke  rings. 

In  their  letters,  detailing  their  success  to  the 
folks  at  home,  they  promised  their  wives  new 
gowns  and  their  daughters  pianos.  They  were 
doing  so  well  that  they  felt  that  they  could 
afford  holidays.  They  fell  into  the  way  of 
'•  knocking  off  "  by  mutual  consent  at  noon  on 
days  when  they  had  to  bake  bread.  If  it  was 
a  little  colder  than  usual  in  the  morning  they 
succumbed  to  the  temptation  of  making  more 
figures  and  dreaming  more  dreams  by  the  fire 
and  postponing  work  until  the  morrow.  '*  The 
gold's  in  the  ground  ;  it's  ours.  All  we've  got 
to  do  is  to  take  it  out,  and  we've  got  to  stay 
here  two  or  three  winters,  anyway,"  was  the 
argument  with  which  they  excused  themselves. 
The  size  of  their  dumps  beside  those  excavated 
by  employees  who  worked  by  the  hour  was  a 
silent  commentary  on  the  value  of  discipline. 

Mid-July  found  them  in  Dawson  in  a  mood 

99 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 


■il: 


1:5' 


11' 


ii 


to  afTord  at  least  one  more  dish  of  eggs,  one 
more  dinner  at  the  restaurant  before  thev  set- 
tied  down  to  the  economical  life  which  their 
necessities  required.  Occasionally  they  took 
out  of  their  pockets,  to  amuse  their  friends, 
clippings  from  the  home  paper,  in  which  they 
saw  themselves  made  out  millionnaires.  They 
reread  the  letters  from  home  which  had  come 
along  with  the  clippings  in  the  first  mail  down 
the  river,  and  confronted  deep  perplexities.  It 
was  only  human  that  they  should  wish  that  the 
wife  had  not  gone  so  far  as  actually  to  order  the 
piano  and  the  gown.  V/hile  they  calculated 
how  much  they  would  need  for  their  winter's 
outfit  and  how  much  they  could  send  home — 
if  that  fund  did  not  all  go  for  eggs  before  the 
problem  was  settled  —  they  formulated  the 
wording  of  their  replies  by  which  they  should 
explain  the  situation. 

To  the  credit  of  the  sex  be  it  said  that  the 
wives  of  some  of  the  unfortunate  laymen  knew 
their  husbands*  weaknesses.  One  optimist, 
who  had  taken  only  $900  out  of  his  claim  in- 
stead of  the  $10,000  that  he  had  anticipated, 
received  this  reply  from  home  : 

"  God  bless  you,  Charlie,  but  we've  made  too 
many  ten  thousands  without  ever  getting  them 


100 


••> 


MINERS   AND   MINING 

for  me  to  count  my  chickens  before  they're 
hatched.  I'm  being  as  economical  as  I  can, 
and  telling  the  neighbors  that  I  hope  you'll 
make  a  good  year's  wages,  but  that  it's  too 
early  to  tell  yet  for  certain." 

Most  of  the  laymen,  if  they  had  worked 
steadily  for  eight  hours  a  day — more  are  scarce- 
ly practicable  on  account  of  the  long  nights — 
would  have  had  more  than  the  equivalent  of  the 
prevailing  rate  of  wages.  Those  who  had  felt 
themselves  to  be  unfortunate  in  not  getting 
lays  and  had  sought  employment,  because  they 
had  someone  to  tell  them  to  go  to  work  in  the 
morning,  were  in  the  mood  of  the  school-boy 
who  had  studied  during  the  term  and  passed 
his  examination  as  opposed  to  the  boy  who 
had  not.  Their  employers  were  better  satis- 
fied because  their  claims  had  been  worked  with 
more  system  and  thoroughness  than  the  others, 
and  were  more  than  glad  to  pay  the  interest, 
'ieax'y  as  it  was,  on  their  borrowed  capital. 

While  the  laymen  were  inclined  to  exag- 
ge:ate  the  amount  of  their  earnings  in  order 
to  decrease  the  discrepancy  between  their  win- 
ter boasts  and  their  spring  returns,  the  claim- 
owners  themselves,  who  early  in  May  were 
L^  ene  optimists  and  put  the  total  output  of 

101 


p 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 


i;i 


lis; 


the  country  at  $15,000,000,  by  the  end  of 
May  were  dour  pessimists,  asserting  their  un- 
bounded faith  that  the  total  output  would  not 
be  more  than  $6,000,000.  Early  in  May,  you 
see,  there  was  an  impression  that  the  Govern- 
ment royalty  of  ten  per  cent,  on  the  gross 
product  of  all  claims  had  been  repealed.  At 
the  end  of  May,  Major  Walsh,  the  Commis- 
sioner of  the  Yukon  District,  arrived  with  the 
positive  inform.  .  -^  that  the  royalty  would  be 
collected.  Most  ^  the  claim-owners  on  Bo- 
nanza had  suffered  the  same  disillusion  as  their 
laymen  ;  but  most  of  them,  if  the  Government 
had  not  decided  that  they  would  have  to  pay 
the  royalty  on  the  laymen's  gold  as  well  as 
on  their  own,  would  have  put  on  a  bold  front, 
especially  as  their  claims  were  for  sale. 

When  claim-owners  met  on  the  trail,  after 
comparing  notes  as  to  the  number  of  eggs 
eaten  at  the  first  sitting,  the  invariable  remark 
was: 

"  I  don't  suppose  you've  heard  anything 
about  your  claim  being  sold  !  " 

For  no  one  was  certain  whether  he  or 
some  stranger  owned  the  wealth  of  his  dumps. 
Without  any  property  under  consideration  by 
the  capitalists  of  London  or  New  York,  you 


103 


\1  ^jtmsmsaia^ 


h     lu 


fi' 


MINERS  AND   MINING 


were  a  kind  of  social  outcast.  Claims  that 
were  under  options  were  as  common  as  mort- 
gages formerly  were  on  farms  in  Kansas. 

The  prospect  of  famine  during  the  winter 
had  been  responsible  for  this.  Some  enter- 
prising fellows,  who  were  among  the  first  to 
go  out  over  the  ice,  made  the  best  of  their 
opportunity  as  connecting  links  between  an 
isolated  community  and  civilization. 

"  Here  you  are,"  they  said  to  the  claim- 
owners  on  Eldorado  and  Bonanza,  "  paying  a 
dollar  and  a  quarter  and  a  dollar  and  a  half 
an  hour  for  labor  and  thawing  the  dirt  out 
by  inches,  when  capitalists,  with  cheaper  labor 
and  improved  appliances,  can  take  it  out  for 
half  the  money.  Why,  it's  a  case  of  the  old 
stage  coach  against  the  lightning  express.  If 
they  can  block  a  number  of  claims  and  work 
'em  together,  they'll  gladly  pay  you  on  the 
spot  more'n  you  can  get  out  of  your  claim 
the  way  you're  working  it,  and  make  a 
good  thing  out  of  it  too.  The  whole  out- 
side's  wild  over  the  Klondyke.  The  capital- 
ists are  longing  for  the  chance.  All  that's  got 
to  be  done  is  to  lay  it  before  'em.  You  name 
your  price  and  give  me   six   months'  option 

and  we'll   take  'em  out  and  sell  'em.     What 

103 


ii 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 


ill: 


mi 


fi; 


we  get  for  *em's  our  affair.  We'll  make  our 
commission  out  of  the  difference." 

The  enthusiasts  believed  what  they  said. 
They  assured  themselves  and  the  claim-owners 
that  none  of  the  arguments  which  held  good 
in  other  mining  camps  could  apply  in  this 
instance.  The  Klondyke  was  a  law  unto  it- 
self in  all  matters  of  investment,  they  said. 
They  put  dust  from  each  of  the  claims  which 
they  were  to  sell  in  a  separate  bag,  and  this 
they  were  to  offer  to  the  simple-minded  finan- 
ciers of  London  and  New  York  as  a  guaran- 
tee of  the  correctness  of  their  several  repre- 
sentations. Each  zealous  miner  being  desir- 
ous that  his  claim  should  show  up  well  on  the 
list,  some  of  the  promoters  obtained  several 
thousand  dollars  in  nuggets. 

Such  examples  of  success  were  not  without 

their   effect   upon   those  who  went  out  over 

the  ice  at  later  periods.     The  field  of  all  the 

claims  on  the  creeks  as  yet  demonstrated  to 

be  valuable  having  been  worked,  they  turned 

their  attention  to  those  creeks  which  had  been 

staked  on   unfounded   rumors    by  stampedes, 

and    possibly  were  worth  no   more   than  the 

beds   of  so  many  creeks  in  the  valley  of  the 

Hudson  River.     They  neglected  none  of  the 

104 


MINERS   AND   MINING 

details.  Because  it  looks  better  to  the  lay  eye, 
they  chose  dust  from  Eldorado  as  examples  of 
the  product  of  these  "wild  oat  prospectors." 

The  moral  effect  of  the  option  craze  was 
unfortunate  in  more  respects  than  one.  Men 
who  owned  claims  on  stampede  creeks  felt 
that  they  could  afford  to  waste  their  winter  in 
idleness  in  their  cabins  as  long  as  they  had 
property  in  the  hands  of  New  York  capitalists. 
They  could  not  escape  the  heresy  that  a  claim 
in  the  Klondyke,  no  matter  what  its  loca- 
tion, was  regarded  by  the  outside  world  as  a 
valuable  piece  of  property.  It  was  especially 
hard  for  those  who  had  not  funds  enough  to 
buy  their  winter's  outfit,  as  they  inquired  along 
the  river  bank,  day  after  day,  as  the  boats  came 
in,  to  learn  finally  that  the  promoters  to  whom 
they  had  intrusted  their  claims  had  arrived 
on  the  Pacific  Coast  just  at  the  time  when  the 
Klondyke  was  forgotten  and  all  public  interest 
was  centred  in  another  subject,  and,  accord- 
ingly, had  enlisted  in  the  volunteer  army. 

Those  promoters  with  small  ambitions  fared 
the  best.  In  London  they  sold  a  few  of  the 
cheaper  claims,  which,  as  a  rule,  were  disap- 
pointments to  the  purchasers.     But  sometimes 

it  is  better  to  be  trusting  than  to  be  wise.     One 

105 


w 


^fl: 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 


m 


li 


m 


[•.■\i 


Is  ■ 


«  . 


f 
5'     I 


young  Englishman  bought  a  claim  on  Sulphur 
for  $2,000  which  would  not  have  sold  for  $500 
in  Dawson  at  the  time.  When  he  arrived  to 
take  possession  of  it  in  June,  its  value  had 
risen  so  rapidly  on  account  of  the  later  de- 
velopment of  the  creek  that  he  sold  it  for 
$20,000.  The  anxiety  of  the  claim-owners  on 
the  new  creeks,  as  Sulphur,  Dominion,  and 
Hunker — all  having  their  head-waters  on  the 
slopes  of  The  Dome — were  called,  lest  the  pro- 
moters had  sold  their  claims,  was  as  great  as 
that  of  some  of  the  claim-owners  on  Bonanza 
lest  their  claims  had  not  been  sold.  Perhaps 
as  many  as  thirty  claims  on  the  new  creeks 
had  been  worked  to  any  extent  during  the 
past  winter,  with  such  results  as  to  increase 
their  speculative  value  by  five  hundred  per 
cent. 

The  forty  happy  kings  of  the  forty  claims 
on  Eldorado  also  preferred  not  to  sell.  That 
•*  pup "  returned  good  for  evil.  It  heaped 
satire  upon  the  satirists  who  had  given  it  its 
name  as  a  joke,  and  continued  to  surpass  all 
expectations.  The  optimism  which  over- 
estimated Bonanza  under-estimated  Eldorado. 
These  forty  kings,  as  they  compared  the  out- 
put with  their  figures,  concluded,  with    some 

106 


MINERS  AND  MINING 

pride,  that  all  born  mathematicians  are  in- 
clined to  be  too  conservative. 

You  could  see  the  dust  glistening  in  the 
dumps  of  the  '*  pup."  The  water  gurgling 
over  the  cleats  in  the  sluice-boxes  seemed  to 
sing  a  merrier  song  than  on  Bonanza.  Every 
shovelful  which  it  bore  chuckling  over  the 
cleats  yielded  up  a  dollar  or  more.  It  licked 
twice  as  much  off  rocks  that  had  to  be  lifted 
out  of  the  sluice-boxes  by  hand  because  its 
current  was  not  strong  enough  to  carry  them 
on  down  to  the  waste  pile.  At  intervals,  nug- 
gets of  some  size  were  unearthed  by  the  spade 
and  were  tossed  into  a  pan  at  one  side.  If 
you  were  a  friend  of  the  claim-owner  he  would 
beg  you  to  take  your  pick  of  the  lot  as  a 
souvenir  of  the  day.  But  you  would  not  get 
one  worth  more  than  ten  or  fifteen  dollars, 
even  if  you  were  greedy  enough  to  choose  it 
for  its  size  rather  than  for  its  beauty.  The 
giants — one  was  found  worth  $600  and  those 
worth  from  $50  to  $100  were  not  infrequent — 
had  been  spied  in  the  drifts  in  the  winter. 

A  magnificent  carelessness  of  det  * -r:  pre- 
vailed. A  scientific  miner  who  had  seen  fort- 
unes made  in  California  out  of  a  cent  a  pan 

would   have   regarded  the  forty  kings  in   the 

107 


m 


It:  11 


& 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

light  of  infants  making  a  holiday  with  a  tack 
hammer  and  a  gold  watch.  They  could  afford 
to  laugh  back  at  him  in  return.  There  is  some 
reason  in  their  philosophy  that  one  cannot 
afford  to  pay  men  a  dollar  and  a  quarter  an 
hour  to  pick  up  stray  pennies,  and  more  in 
the  philosophy  that  when  you  have  a  fortune 
you  have  enough. 

It  was  not  yet  in  the  old-timer's  nature, 
rapidly  as  his  character  w^as  changing,  to 
squeeze  the  last  cent  out  of  Mother  Earth, 
in  the  manner  of  some  hard  taskmaster,  when 
she  had  given  to  him  such  a  bountiful  harvest. 
A  little  line  of  dust,  like  a  braid  of  gold  lace 
remaining  on  either  side  of  the  sluice-box( 
after  a  day's  clean-up  was  dismissed  with  the 
remark  that  it  would  "  come  out  in  the  wash  " 
next  time.  If  the  workman  who  had  the  un- 
comfortable and  unhealthy  position — especi- 
ally when  the  sun  was  directly  overhead — of 
standing  in  the  dump-box,  took  a  few  minutes' 
rest,  he  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  said  that 
any  dust  that  was  lost  in  the  meantime  could 
be  a  boon  to  the  Chinamen  who,  coming  hum- 
bly after  the  w^hite  man's  departure,  would 
patiently  take  fortunes  out  of  the  white  man's 
tailings — unless  the  capitalist  should  make  the 

io8 


I 


Slijvelliii^'  a  CIe;in-Up  iiUu  a  Gold  Pan. 


Cleaning  Up. 


"^ 


»'.   j; 


MINERS  AND  MINING 

valley  resound  with  the  toil  of  machinery- 
manned  by  cheap  labor,  thus  cheating  poor 
John  out  of  what  he  has  come  to  regard  as 
the  right  of  his  race  in  placer  mining  countries. 
There  was  not  one  strong  box  for  the  safe- 
keeping of  the  daily  harvest  of  thousands  on 
all  of  the  creeks.  The  bags  of  dust  were  kept 
in  the  little  cellars  which  the  miners  had  ex- 
cavated under  their  cabins  for  the  preservation 
of  their  food.  There  was  a  joke  which  went 
the  round  of  the  firesides  during  the  food-panic 
that  it  would  be  cheaper  to  fry  the  dust  and 
save  the  hams.  For  the  bags,  made  of  rough- 
ly tanned  moosehide,  the  Indians  received 
prices  in  keeping  with  those  of  other  things. 
They  bore  the  owner's  name  printed  in  ink,  if 
ink  could  be  obtained;  their  capacity  was 
about  $5,000  each,  and  they  were  not  unlike, 
in  their  freshness  as  well  as  in  their  size,  the 
dirty,  worn,  brown  little  bags  which  were 
carried  in  lieu  of  purses.  Three  or  four  of 
them  were  all  that  you  cared  to  carry  on  your 
back.  When  you  met  men  on  the  trail  bend- 
ing as  under  heavy  packs  of  slight  bulk,  you 
knew  their  business.  If  there  weie  many  bags 
there  might  be  an  escort  with  a  rifle  and  there 

might  not.     Most  of  the  claim-owners  thought 

109 


''  1 


III 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

nothing  of  sending  several  thousands  by  their 
employees,  unaccompanied,  to  be  deposited  in 
one  of  the  Commercial  Companies'  stores  ;  but 
once  the  "  Cheechawkos  "  began  to  arrive,  all 
sought  locks  for  their  cellar-doors. 


r; 


^iv:  hi 


m>    y 


§ 


:'f 
( 


no 


VI 

SOME   KLONDYKE   TYPES 

^"'sT^V''''  '"'.'  '"''"'"''  friends-More  Theorizers-Joe 

STALEV    AND    BiLLV    Deddering  -  FRENCH    GULCH    BENCH 

7wiN°^M    r'"''  '"'''  ""'  Deserved-Neighbors  and 
Twins-No  Cure  for   the  Gold  Fever. 

TT  was  the  greater  world  of  the  Klondyke 
A   that  was  bounded  by  the  creek  claims.     A 
smaller  world  was   bounded  by  the   hill-sides 
where  there  were  many  fresh  mounds  of  earth 
suggesting  that  the  population  might  be  dig^ 
gmg  their  graves  one  by  one.     Graves  of  am- 
bitions most  of  these  mounds  w     •.  in  all  truth 
A   few,    readily   distinguished   as   far   as  you 
could  see  the  two  figures  hovering  ovei  them 
were   the    birthplaces   of    the    fortune   which 
the  figures  were  exhuming  with  the  orthodox 
rocker. 

The  original  nugget  washed  out  of  a  bench 
and  deposited  where  Indian  Charlie's  gaze 
would  light  on  it  did  not  lead,  even  indirectly 

tothe  discovery  of  the  wealth  of  the  benches! 

Ill 


p 


w^ 


wmmimma 


f  '■ 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

This  honor  belongs  to  a  stalwart  Swede,  whose 
race  in  the  Klondyke  is  the  general  butt  of  that 
fine  wit  of  our  own  race  which  makes  a  mark 
of  a  foreigner's  broken  English  and  his  efforts 
to  understand  strange  manners  and  a  strange 
language.  One  day  in  the  spring  of  1897  he 
went  up  the  slope  above  his  cabin  near  the 
mouth  of  Eldorado  and  began  to  strip  off  the 
muck  as  fast  as  the  sun  thawed  it.  Directly 
his  neighbors  saw  what  he  was  doing  they  be- 
gan to  compose  satirical  remarks  against  the 
time  when  he  should  come  down. 

**  Why  don't  you  go  looking  for  gold  up  a 
tree  ?  "  they  asked  him. 

"  I  tank  gold  no  grow  on  trees,"  he  replied, 
in  all  candor. 

"  Say,  did  you  ever  hear,"  they  continued,  as 

they  held  their  sides,  "  that  the  weight  of  gold 

makes    it    sink  ?      I    suppose  you   think  the 

glacier  walked  up  on  the  hills  and  left  a  few 

millions  there.     The  millions  didn't  roll  down? 

Oh,  no  !    That's  why  we  have  to  sink  through 

thirty  feet  in  the  creek  bed  to  pav  dirt.    Better 

try  the  trees  !     You  might  find  a  bear  up  the 

trees   and    bear  meat  would   be   worth  three 

pennyweights  a  pound  in  town." 

"  If  you  don't   dig  some  hole  you  no  find 

112 


SOME  KLONDYKE  TYPES 

'gold.  By  tarn  !  I  dig  a  hole  if  I  vant  to,"  he 
replied,  as  he  went  into  his  cabin. 

"Well,  of  all  the  fools," they  said,  "it  takes  a 
Swede  to  beat  the  lot." 

Men  passing  on  the  trails  stopped  to  look  up 
to  the  point  where  the  ••  fool "  was  working, 
grew  friendly  in  despising  him,  and  carried  the 
joke  to  the  ends  of  the  creeks  and  to  Dawson, 
where  it  was  elaborated  over  the  bars. 

One  evening  the  **  fool "  quietly  called  on  all 
of  his  friends  among  his  fellow  Scandinavians,  as 
well  as  upon  certain  Anglo-Saxons  who  had 
not  made  fun  of  his  English.  They  followed 
him  up  the  hill  and  drove  stakes  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  his  prospect  hole.  The  twinkle  in 
his  blue  eye  was  not  unkind,  though  sugges- 
tive, the  next  morning  when  he  showed  to  the 
scoffers  a  handful  of  nuggets  from  a  claim 
which  was  worth  $50,000.  But  scoffers  ac- 
cept nothing  on  faith.  They  would  not  be- 
lieve that  he  took  the  nugget  out  of  the  hill 
until  they  had  panned  some  of  his  dirt  them- 
selves. 

'•  Well,  of  all  the  lucky  fools,"  they  said,  "  it 
takes  a  Swede  to  beat  the  lot !  Here's  millions 
been  lyin'  within  ten  rods  of  us  for  a  year  and 
we  never  knowed  it." 

"3 


|.; 


I    . 


5;  ^'' 


It^i' 


mi  ^\\ 

'  I!    ' 


(     ! 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

Those  who  had  sharpened  their  wits  at  the 
discoverer's  expense  now  hastened  to  get  a 
claim  as  near  as  possible  to  his,  until  a  mile  of 
Bonanza  on  both  sides  of  the  creek  was  taken 
up,  from  the  point  where  the  slopes  meet  the 
creek  bed  to  their  summit.  Theories  about  the 
habits  of  the  glac  or  were  qualified  by  the  ex- 
perts. Thenceforth,  it  stood  to  reason  that  the 
breadth  of  no  glacier  of  such  importance  would 
be  limited  to  that  of  a  creek.  The  scoffers 
soon  found  themselves  saying  that  this  had 
been  their  opinion  all  along,  and  eventually  be- 
came so  imaginative  as  to  hint  that  they  had 
advised  the  Swede  to  make  the  experiment. 

Poetic  justice  attended  the  immediate  out- 
come of  the  stampede.  The  pioneer  and  the 
parasite  got  their  fit  rewards.  There  was  less 
than  an  acre  of  good  pay  dirt  on  Skookum 
Bench,  as  it  was  called,  and  this  mostly  fell  to 
the  discoverer  and  his  friends.  Here  and  there 
in  the  neighborhood  good  day's  wages  could  be 
made  with  a  rocker,  and  nothing  more.  En- 
thusiasm over  bench  claims  languished. 

"  It  was  just  like  a  Swede  to  strike  the  only 

rich  bench  in  the  whole  country  the  first  time 

that  he  put  his  pick  in  the  ground,"  said  the 

scoffers.       In    their     pessimistic    philosophy, 

114 


-^ 


SOME  KLONDYKE  TYPES 


vvhi'jh  exults  over  deserted  prospect  holes,  the 
latest  strike  is  always  bound  to  be  the  last. 
They  are  the  very  ones  who  were  the  greatest 
optimists  when  they  left  home  to  try  their  luck 
in  the  North  against  the  advice  of  their  friends. 
This  weakness  is  likely  to  grow  on  Klondykers 
who  become  too  fond  of  a  sedentary  life,  un- 
less their  supply  of  bacon  runs  out  and  forces 
action,  or  they  awaken  to  a  sense  of  their 
growing  degradation  when  they  eat  fresh  eggs 
in  Dawson  and  then  see  the  vvorld  in  bright 
colors  again.  But  long  after  the  cynics  are 
dead,  strikes  will  be  made  in  Alaska  by  the 
class  of  real  prospectors  who  cheerily  face  all 
hardships  and  get  out  of  them  good  digestions 
for  anything  from  flapjacks  to  moose  gristle  or 
even  boiled  willow  roots. 

Joe  Staley  and  Billy  Deddering,  who  dis- 
covered French  Gulch  Bench,  the  richest  of  all 
the  benches,  the  spring  following  the  discovery 
of  Skookum  Bench,  were  of  the  order  of  real 
prospectors.  They  had  served  their  appren- 
ticeship in  various  parts  of  the  Rockies,  which 
are  the  playground  of  free  men  from  end  to 
end. 

Fond  as  I  am  of  the  California  prospector,  I 
am  unwilling  to  accept  the  verdict  of  his  squint 

"5 


,  I- 

its; 


liiU 


r, 


i: 


i'l     \ 


:  'v 


'If 

m    I 


( 


I 

t 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

whenever  he  brings  it  to  bear  on  a  portion  of 
the  earth's  surface,  though  Billy  Deddering,  I 
admit,  as  he  understands  relative  values,  has 
reason  to  believe  in  his.  But,  in  one  sense,  I 
rejoice  with  him  in  his  faith,  inasmuch  as  the 
scoffers,  who  want  to  make  out  that  all  success 
in  the  Klondyke  comes  from  luck,  and  that  they 
have  failed  because  they  never  had  any,  spun 
the  yarn  that  a  log  which  he  was  shooting  down 
the  hill  for  a  cabin  knocked  a  nugget  out  of  the 
ground  and  thus  became  the  godfather  of  his 
fortune. 

Some  two  miles  above  the  mouth  of  Eldo- 
rado, French  Gulch  splits  the  embankment 
which  forms  the  western  wall  of  the  valley  of 
Eldorado.  Billy's  squint,  when  he  brought  it 
to  bear  on  the  rounded  corner  of  the  embank- 
ment on  the  lower  side  of  the  gulch  in  some- 
thing of  the  manner  of  an  old-fashioned  ma- 
rine covering  a  sail  with  his  telescope,  told  him 
that  this  was  exactly  the  place  where  gold  ought 
to  be  found,  even  if  it  was  not.  The  first  hole 
that  he  sunk  yielded  only  colors.  A  clerk  from 
London  or  the  Eastern  seaboard  of  the  United 
States  might  have  gone  back  down  the  hill  with 
his  pick  and  shovel  in  a  fit  of  blues  and  never 
come  up  again.     Billy  was  not  in  the  least  dis- 

Ii6 


SOME  KLONDYKE  TYPES 


couraged.  He  merely  readjusted  his  squint, 
and  concluded : 

"  If  'tain't  here  it  must  be  farther  up." 

So  it  was.  In  the  next  hole  he  took  $187 
out  of  his  first  pan  on  bedrock.  Joe  was  with 
him  at  the  time,  but  at  the  request  of  Joe  I 
give  all  the  credit  for  the  discovery  to  Billy. 

"It  was  Billy's  idea  entirely,"  Joe  said.  "  He 
spotted  the  ground  first." 

"  What  did  you  do,"  I  asked  Billy,  "  when 
you  struck  it  after  all  your  years  of  buffeting 
about  from  one  camp  to  another?" 

"  Well,"  he  replied,  **  I  looked  around  to  see 
if  anybody  had  seen  us." 

"  Nobody  did  see  us,  so  far  as  we  could  make 
out,"  Joe  put  in,  **  but  they  must  have  noticed 
that  we  went  down  the  hill  as  light  as  if  we  was 
walkin*  on  feathers,  though  we  was  tryin*  to  look 
very  solemn,  like  we  was  at  a  fune^-al.  When 
somebody  asked  us  if  we  had  found  anything  I 
reckon  we  kind  o*  started,  though  we  was  care- 
ful to  say,  'Jest  a  few  colors.'  But  durned  if 
the  crowd  wasn't  up  there  'fore  the  few  friends 
we  had  among  our  neighbors  had  fairly  got  their 
stakes  in  the  ground." 

"And  you,  Joe?  What  did  you  think  of 
before  vou  turned  in  ?  " 


light 


"7 


i 


I  ':■ 


fi  'i  1 


■ 


If: 

1-1 ; 


[ii 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

"Old's  I  am,  and  long's  I've  been  knockin* 
about  the  world,  I've  never  been  married,  and 
naturally  I  thought  what  a  surprise  it  would  be 
to  mother,  when  she  got  a  le.-er  say  in'  that  her 
oldest  boy  was  comin'  back  to  'hio  with  a  pile 
to  pay  off  the  mortgage  and  spen/d  the  rest  of 
his  days  on  the  old  homestead." 

"And  you,  Billy?" 

"  I  wished  I  was  in  'Frisco  with  that  hun- 
dred and  eighty-seven." 

Many  times  I  climbed  the  hill  to  have  a  talk 
with  Joe  and  Billy.  They  were  a  relief  from 
the  loungers  and  speculators  in  the  hotel  at  the 
Forks,  who  seemed  to  think  that  the  business 
of  a  newspaper  correspondent  was  to  expound 
the  possibility  of  the  schemes  for  enlisting  capi- 
tal which  they  were  promoting.  It  was  a  pleas- 
ure to  look  into  the  good  faces  of  Joe  and 
Billy,  and  to  shake  their  hands,  caked  with 
clay.  I  sat  on  a  stone  and  smoked  my  pipe, 
while  Joe  carried  buckets  of  dirt  to  Billy,  who 
looked  up  with  a  smile  on  his  round  German 
face,  which  was  spattered  with  drops  of  mud 
that  had  splashed  out  of  the  rocker  when  he 
shook  it,  or  when  he  ladled  water  on  to  the  dirt 
with  a  dipper  made  out  of  a  butter-can.  Joe 
said  that  he  didn't  mind  if  the  fact  that   he 

Ii8 


SOME  KLONDYKE  TYPES 

had  struck  it  v^as  published  in  the  Sydney  (Ohio) 
Journal,  but  beyond  that  I  knew  he  had  no 
axes  to  grind,  and  my  highest  ambition  for  the 
moment  was  that  they  should  think  me  a  good 
fellow,  while  their  greatest  fear  was  that  I  was 
starving  because  I  would  not  go  up  to  the  tent 
and  have  a  cup  of  coffee  and  a  '*  bite  to  eat"  in 
the  middle  of  the  afternoon. 

The  sun  was  accommodating  enough  to  thaw 
the  dirt  as  fast  as  Billy  could  rock  it,  and  Joe 
could  bring  it  a  little  faster  than  either  the  sun 
could  thaw  it  or  Billy  could  rock  it.  This  al- 
lowed Joe  intervals  in  which  to  rest,  to  enter- 
tain me,  and  to  relight  his  pipe.  I  used  to  offer 
my  pouch  to  him,  telling  him  that  he  would  get 
more  smoke  if  he  used  tobacco. 

•'Couldn't  think  of  it.  There's  nothin'  so 
sweet  as  the  heel,"  he  would  say.  "  It  gives 
me  a  puff,  and  that's  all  I  want." 

It  was  not  surprising  that  he  wondered  why 
the  supplies  of  tobacco  which  other  men  had 
brought  in  with  their  outfits  were  long  ago  ex- 
hausted, while  he  had  plenty  left.  He  pro- 
tested, notwithstanding  Billy's  denials,  that  he 
filled  his  pipe  every  morning — at  least,  almost 
every  morning. 

The   experience   of   seeking   with  his   own 

119 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 


r 


It 


ii 


SI -a  • 


hands  wealth  direct  from  the  hands  of  Mother 
Nature  had  chiselled  out  the  lines  of  his  face  in 
distinct,  unqualified  characteristics,  without  any 
of  the  doubtful  gingerbread  work  which  we 
find  on  faces  in  civilization.  It  was  like  the 
weather-beaten  image  on  some  old  church, 
careless  of  the  storms  which  make  a  new  image 
streaked  and  mean.  He  and  his  **  pardner " 
were  "  rocking  out "  five  hundred  dollars  a 
day ;  he  was  no  man's  servant  and  no  man's 
master,  and  more  of  a  king  than  kings.  I 
have  gathered  nuggets  on  his  claim  as  easily  as 
I  have  picked  up  white  pebbles  on  the  beach 
in  boyhood. 

The  great  difficulty  is  in  developing  such  a 
wonderful  squint  as  Billy  Deddering's  and  in 
finding  the  exact  spot  where  such  nests  of  nug- 
gets are  located.  If  ever  there  was  a  poor 
man's  claim  it  is  the  bench  claim.  All  you 
need  to  work  it  are  a  rocker,  which  costs  fifteen 
dollars,  and  your  pick  and  shovel.  A  blind 
ditch  whose  frozen  walls  are  as  tight  as  a  por- 
celain bath-tub  will  catch  the  seepage  from  the 
pay  dirt,  which  is  thawed  by  the  sun  as  it  is 
gradually  exposed.  So  you  have  all  the  water 
that  you  need,  without  too  much.  If  the  bed- 
rock be  at  some  depth,  you  can  work  in  winter 


I20 


SOME  KLONDYKE  TYPES 


as  well  as  in  summer.  A  year  at  the  most  will 
suffice  to  take  out  your  fortune ;  and  you  have 
no  worry  over  borrowed  money,  flumes,  sluices, 
or  dams. 

If  Billy  had  not  already  staked  his  bench 
claim  rights  for  the  Bonanza  Creek  region,  he 
and  Joe  would  not  have  had  to  be  content  with 
a  single  claim,  and  one  of  them  would  have 
got  the  claim  just  above  discovered,  which 
was  even  richer,  two  men  taking  as  high  as  a 
thousand  dollars  a  day  out  of  it.  Here  was 
dirt  richer  than  any  on  Eldorado  itself,  twenty 
of  whose  forty  working  claims,  probably  con- 
taining thirty  million  dollars,  stretched  out 
in  a  panorama  before  you  when  you  looked 
either  up  or  down  the  creek.  If  one  could 
have  had  a  claim  on  the  bench  of  the  size  of 
the  creek  claims,  instead  of  one  only  a  hundred 
feet  square,  he  would  have  been  more  than  a 
millionnaire  ;  and  by  hiring  labor  he  could  have 
left  the  country  in  three  months  after  the  dis- 
covery with  his  money  in  his  pocket. 

Sad  to  say,  there  was  not  room  for  all  on 
French  Gulch  Bench  any  more  than  on  Eldo- 
rado. The  whole  extent  of  the  pay  dirt  was 
not  more  than  two  or  three  acres.  It  was 
just  as  large  as  the  dip  in  the  hill-side,  which, 


11 


121 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 


ii  I 


¥■':       'f 


■■\\ 


according  to  the  theory  of  Billy,  caught  and 
held  the  gold  when  it  was  travelling,  while  all 
that  passed  over  the  rim  went  on  down  to  the 
creek  bed  below,  leaving  only  an  occasional 
color  in  its  track.  But  I  disagree  with  Billy. 
I  think  that  all  is  accounted  for  by  the  giant 
keeper  of  the  pot  in  The  Dome  having  thrown 
out  a  handful  of  the  overflow  across  the  hills. 
This  makes  the  Dresence  of  wash-gravel,  which 
is  absent,  unnecessary,  and  reconciles  itself  to 
the  presence  of  nuggets  in  rotten  mica  shist, 
which  is  the  most  inexcusable  of  all  the  para- 
doxes in  Alaska,  the  old  prospectors  say. 

Aside  from  Billy  and  Joe,  I  came  to  know 
some  of  their  fortunate  neighbors.  Dan  Saun 
ders  probably  had  the  best  claim  of  all.  He 
was  at  the  hotel  at  the  Forks  one  day,  and  in 
his  cups  when  a  man  offered  in  the  bar-room 
to  sell  a  claim  on  P'rench  Gulch  Bench  for  a 
hundred  dollars.  The  Forks  is  the  Stock  Ex- 
change of  the  creeks,  and  at  that  moment,  on 
account  of  some  rumor,  the  opinion  ruled  that 
the  bench  had  been  salted.  The  claim-owner 
believed  it.  Dan  said  he  would  give  fifty 
down  and  the  first  fifty  out  of  the  claim,  and 
the  offer  was  accepted.  The  morning  after, 
when  Dan's  wit  was  not  so  brilliant,  lut  his 


122 


SOME  KLONDYKE  TYPES 


:r 


reasoning  faculties  had  improved,  h^  went  up 
to  look  at  his  elephant.  He  came  down  a 
week  later  and  tried  to  spend  the  two  or 
three  thousand  dollars  he  had  taken  out  in  the 
meantime.  He  could  dispose  of  only  part  of 
it,  and  returned  to  his  claim  in  despair,  some- 
what disgusted  with  city  life. 

Burke,  who  owned  the  claim  next  to  Saun- 
ders, was  a  type  of  the  runaway  boys  from  the 
East  who  have  turned  up  in  the  KlondyLe 
after  having  served  an  apprenticeship  in  the 
West.  This  one  reaped  among  the  harvest 
of  his  wild  oats  the  largest  nugget  that  was 
taken  out  of  French  Gulch  Bench.  It  was  the 
shape  of  an  oblong  pancake,  without  any 
quartz  in  it,  and  worth  $210.  When  I  met 
him  in  Dawson  one  morning,  he  was  gleeful 
')ver  the  joke  he  had  played  on  the  old  folks  at 
home.  For  the  first  time  in  five  years  he  had 
written  to  them.  They  had  as  good  reasons  to 
suppose  that  he  was  dead  as  that  he  was  in  the 
Klondyke. 

"  Won't  their  eyes  pop  and  won't  they  have 
something  to  tell  the  neighhcrs  when  they  find 
out  that  their  worthless  Tom  is  comin'  home 
with  fifty  thousand  cold  ! " 

That  same  day  I  dined  with  Joe  Staley  at 

Its 


i 

i 
I 


ii 


III 


If: 


Wk 


a 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

the  foremost  restaurant  in  town.  When  we 
had  eaten  fresh  eggs  and  other  luxuries  which 
had  just  been  brought  in  from  the  **  outside," 
as  he  pushed  his  plate  away  from  him  he  shook 
his  head  dubiously  : 

*•  I  dunno  as  I'll  be  so  happy  as  I  thought, 
w^hen  I  settle  down  among  the  cows  and 
chickens,"  he  mused.  "This  grub  don't  taste 
the  way  I  thought  'twould.  Darned  if  I  don't 
like  the  beans  and  bacon  that  I  have  up  at 
the  claim  better,  and  I'll  be  glad  to  be  back 
carryin'  dirt  to  the  rocker  for  Billy  to-morrow. 
They  say  once  the  gold  fever's  in  a  fellow's 
bones  it  sticks  like  the  rhcumatiz,  and  I  be- 
lieve it.  I  reckon  it's  the  only  thing  I'll  be 
satisfied  with  in  this  life.  But  I  won't  pros- 
pect in  this  godless  region.  I'll  go  back  to 
Californy." 

On   my  way  to  see  Joe  and  Billy    I  often 

stopped  for  a  chat  with  Ned  and  Fred   Beck, 

who  were  sinking  a  shaft  to  bedrock   at   the 

base    of   French   Gulch    Bench    hill.      These 

twin  brothers  had  been  *'  pardners  "  for  forty 

years.     They  had  the  vigor  which  comes  from 

living    among     the    Rockies.      Their     faces, 

framed  in  white  beards,  were  fresh  and  smil- 

ing.      The  archaic    furnace    which   they   had 

124 


I;    i 


ben  we 
3  which 
Jtside," 
J  shook 

lought, 
vs  and 
't  taste 
I  don't 

up  at 
3  back 
orrow. 
cllow's 
.  I  be- 
I'll  be 

pros- 
ick  to 

often 
ieck, 

the 
'hese 
forty 
from 
"aces, 
smil- 

had 


The  Disc •% erei :>  <>l  Fioncli  Gulch  Bench  ;ii  Wink. 


t-:  m    1 

^f0^ 

^^^-^^tm^^L  1 

•<•                                                              »,            *       •               ^^*                      ^      ^ 

^^^^fcJl 

;SI 

.    1 


3] 


Pardners  and  Twnis  f«»r  Forty  Years. 


iie 


m 


m 


v 


Uit  < 


*  ■ ' 

1   , 

>. 

4  t 

SOME  KLONDYKE  TYPES 

constructed  for  sharpening  their  tools,  if  not 
their  age  and  personal  resemblance,  would 
have  attracted  attention. 

"  Have  you  never  quarrelled  ?  "  I  asked. 

••  Oh,  yes,  lots  of  times,"  said  Fred,  '*  and 
agreed  on  quits  lots  of  times,  too.  After 
Ned's  had  a  drink  or  two  he  always  gets 
cranky  and  wants  to  start  out  for  himself." 

'*  Not  much  crankicr'n  you  do,"  Ned  put  in. 

"  That's  right,"  Fred  assented.  •*  But  when 
we're  sober  we  make  it  up  again  and  are 
ashamed  of  ourselves.  We  may  be  twins,  but 
we're  just  fitted  for  each  other." 

*'  That's  right,  too,"  Fred  assented. 


h 


B  t 


125 


ft:  l! 


I    1 


■v  ■-. '! 


Iir  -i 


I  ill 


M  t 

III 


.  i> 


1;^^ 


VII 

GETTING  ACQUAINTED 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  "Meenach"  and  their  Menage— The  Juve- 
nile Mining  Company,  Limited — Voss — The  Arch-Deacon 
— A  Sour-Dough  Stiff — A  Dalmatian  and  a  Turk — Sia- 
WASH  George  and  ifis  Steam-engine — Miss  Mulrooney  at 
The  Forks — The  Price  of  a  "  Square  "  with  Trimmings. 

ONE  day,  if  the  quartz  claims  which  have 
been  staked  should  fulfil  the  hopes  of 
their  owners,  the  Klondyke  will  become  a 
place  of  managers  and  workmen,  of  stamp 
mills  and  chemical  processes.  To-day,  there 
is  very  little  to  say  about  the  working  of  the 
mines,  which  is  as  simple  as  building  a  fire, 
d'ggi^g  a  ^^'cll  and  doing  the  week's  wash, 
but  much  to  say  about  my  friends  and  ac- 
quaintances there,  who  came  from  the  ends  of 
the  earth  and  represented  most  of  its  employ- 
ments. Without  knowing  individuals,  the 
pilgrimage  of  the  Cheechawkos  would  have 
meant  no  more  to  me  than  a  motley  proces- 
sion  seen   from    a   balcony.      Those  leading 

citizens  and   well-known   characters   whom   I 

126 


f^  ..,=^- 


GETTING  ACQUAINTED 

met,  under  the  guidance  of  Captain  Hansen 
in  a  round  of  the  town  on  the  evening  after 
my  arrival,  are  worthy  of  a  chapter  by  them- 
selves. If  I  had  taken  advantage  of  all  the 
letters  of  introduction  to  claim-owners  that 
they  gave  me  I  think  that  I  should  have 
been  three  weeks  in  travelling  the  length  of 
Bonanza. 

In  return  for  hospitality  that  did  not  stand 
upon  formality  but  laid  its  hand  on  my  shoulder 
and  insisted,  I  could  offer  nothing  except  the 
news  from  the  "outside,"  the  bad  news  that 
there  was  no  escape  from  the  royalty.  I 
registered  a  vow  that  if  I  were  to  make  the 
journey  over  the  ice  again  I  would  find  room 
among  my  supplies  for  one  more  article  of 
luxury,  or  else  forego  the  privilege  of  intro- 
ductions. I  saw  in  my  dreams  the  smiles 
with  which  my  hosts  would  have  greeted  the 
offer  of  a  good  cigar,  until  I  had  the  con- 
science of  a  highway  robber. 

••  Don't  forget  to  call  on  Meenach  ! "  said 
Captain  Hansen.  '•  He's  the  luckiest  man  in 
the  country  without  exception.  He  doesn't 
have  to  darn  his  own  socks  and  cook  his  own 
bacon  and  beans  and  you'll  know  him  because 
he's  sleek  and  fat  and  clean-shaven.     I  walk  up 

127 


li    ' 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

the  creek  when  I  can  get  the  time  just  for 
the  privilege  of  poking  my  head  in  at  Mee- 
nach's  door.  To  a  poor  devil  of  a  Klondyker 
it's  a  peep  into  paradise." 

It  was  not  enough  that  the  fortunate  Mee- 
nach  should  have  his  wife  ;  he  had  also  his 
little  boy  of  six  and  his  two  little  girls,  one 
of  four  and  the  other  of  two  years,  with  him. 
After  he  wrote  to  Mrs.  Meenach  that  he  had 
killed  his  lion,  she  came  on  to  him  ;  and  she 
brought  with  her  such  thing  as  sheets,  table- 
cloths, and  pillows,  and  a  regulation  cooking- 
stove.  He  never  dared  to  compute  just  how 
much  the  stove  had  cost  him,  preferring  not 
to  have  his  enjoyment  of  the  luxury  allayed. 
The  mere  expense  of  bringing  it  up  from 
Dawson  would  have  bought  two  or  three  good 
ones  at  home. 

To  the  miners  the  most  wonderful  feature  of 
the  Meenach  cabin  was  the  carpet  on  the  floor. 
Some  of  them  wanted  to  take  off  their  boots 
before  entering,  and  one  suggested  that  if  he 
were  younger  he  would  walk  in  on  his  hands. 

"  If  you  don't  mind,"  he  added,  "  I'll  sit 
with  my  back  to  the  sheets  on  the  bed.  It's 
too  much  at  a  time.  I  want  to  drift  into  this 
easy  like." 

sss 


GETTING  ACQUAINTED 

"  Folks  who  live  in  castles  may  be  bothered 
by  having  too  many  rooms  to  care  for,"  said 
Mrs.  Meenach,  "but  not  I,  in  my  cabin.  I 
could  put  the  children  to  bed  with  one  hand, 
stir  something  on  the  stove  with  the  other, 
and  set  the  table  with  the  third,  if  I  had  it. 
It's  no  trouble  to  go  to  the  market  in  the 
morning.  All  our  fresh  vegetables  are  in  tin 
cans  in  the  cache  just  outside  the  door.  Oh, 
yes,  there  is  much  to  be  thankful  for  if  I  look 
at  it  in  the  right  light.  We  kept  our  condensed 
cream,  our  canned  asparagus  and  our  canned 
peas  all  winter  without  being  frozen.  Then, 
please  heaven,  something  green  grows  in  this 
country.  I  have  a  little  cranberry  sauce  from 
the  poor  cranberries  on  the  hill-side,  and  I 
agree  with  the  children  that  it  is  *  gooder'n  * 
anything  I  ever  tasted.  If  I  could  get  a  fresh 
cabbage  I  think  I  should  eat  it  all  without 
waiting  to  put  salt  on  it.  Now  I  live  from 
day  to  day  on  the  hopes  of  the  eggs  which  are 
expected  in  on  the  first  boats." 

Thus  she  chatted  while  she  warmed  the 
tinned  roast  mutton  in  the  frying-pan,  boiled 
the  evaporated  potatoes  and  the  tinned  sweet 
corn. 

"  I'm  not  going  to  say  that  dinner,  such  as  it 

i«9 


\f 


\W^ 


w 


•^ 


ll 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

is,  is  ready,"  she  said,  "  because,  in  the  Klon- 
dyke,  that  is  quite  superfluous." 

It  is  good  when  you  have  eaten  beans  for  a 
month  off  a  tin  plate  balanced  upon  your  knee, 
to  look  upon  a  clean  table-cloth  again,  to  sit 
by  the  window  of  a  cabin  in  blissful  certainty 
that  your  journey  is  at  an  end,  and  have  a 
good  and  gentle  woman  pour  you  a  cup  of 
tea.  I  remember  the  meal  as  a  banquet,  not  a 
dinner.  After  it  was  over,  the  lord  and  master 
and  I  smoked  our  pipes  until  the  little  ones' 
heads  began  to  nod,  when  I  went  into  the 
cabin  of  one  of  his  laymen  to  roll  up  in  my 
blanket. 

The  children  had  reason  to  think  that  they 
were  the  only  children  in  the  world  and  to  be 
as  proud  as  princes.  But  Mrs.  Meenach's 
fears  lest  they  should  be  spoiled  by  the  adula- 
tion of  the  miners  were  equally  vain  with  her 
fears  about  their  health.  The  extent  of  their 
illnesses  was  a  day's  indisposition  on  the  part 
of  the  baby.  Swathed  in  furs  and  scarfs  until 
only  their  noses  were  visible  and  their  limbs 
were  as  stiff  as  a  doll  baby's,  they  might  go  out 
to  play  with  their  sleds  for  a  few  moments  at 
a  time.  Listening  to  the  cries  of  the  dog- 
drivers  and  the  howls  of  their  steeds,  which 

130 


GETTING  ACQUAINTED 


had  turned  their  mother's  nerves  on  edge,  had 
been  as  good  as  the  kuh-chuk-chuk-chuk  of  a 
railroad  locomotive  to  them.  The  miners, 
with  frost-encrusted  beards,  were  so  many 
Father  Christmases  who  rarely  forgot  to  bring 
a  present  of  a  nugget  when  they  came. 

With  the  coming  of  spring,  an  old  Califor- 
nian  took  the  baby  in  his  arms  while  the 
brother  and  sister  followed  at  his  heels  up  the 
hill-side  to  his  bench  claim.  He  showed  them 
to  a  log,  where  they  sat  very  gravely  while  he 
unfolded  to  them  a  mighty  scheme.  In  return 
for  three  kisses  apiece,  one  to  be  delivered 
when  the  bargain  was  struck  and  two  when 
the  goods  were  delivered,  he  agreed  to  build 
for  them  a  small  rocker,  so  that  ihey  could 
start  a  Mining  Company  (Limited)  on  their 
own  account. 

Their  dividends  were  large  until  one  of  the 
laymen  found  out  that  they  were  using  the 
best  portions  of  his  dumps.  Then  the  total 
income  fell  to  a  dollar  a  day,  which  the  boy  ex- 
plained was  due  to  laxness  on  the  part  of  the 
president — his  elder  sister — and  gross  negli- 
gence on  the  part  of  the  assistant  manager — the 
baby — who  insisted  upon  turning  the  gold  pan 
bottom   side  up  at   critical   moments.     Their 

I3» 


t 


r 


•»( 


il 


■ 


n 

1 
1 

;;f 

■ 

1' 

;      1 

1 
( 

1 

1 

IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

father  played  the  part  of  the  unskilled  laborer, 
and  sometimes  when  he  was  ordered  to  work 
he  said,  "  In  a  minute  !"  an  excuse  which  had 
to  he  accepted.  The  time  came  when  the  old 
Californian  could  no  longer  keep  his  joke  to 
himself. 

'•  Meenach,  seems  to  me  I  'member  tellin' 
the  youngsters  that  you'd  carry  water  for  'em 
to  work  the  rocker  with,"  he  chuckled. 

It  was  by  a  diversion  from  my  programme  that 
I  spent  the  next  night  with  Voss.  His  name 
was  not  on  my  list,  and  I  had  never  heard  of  it 
until  I  drifted  into  his  cabin.  I  was  attracted 
by  his  speech,  which  sounded  a  little  unnatural 
in  a  community  where  expressions  are  intended 
to  convey  a  meaning  and  not  to  subserve  the 
rules  of  grammar.  Despite  his  education,  Voss 
was  an  old-timer  among  old-timers,  greeting 
them  all  by  their  first  names.  The  most  fero- 
cious of  them,  out  of  whose  mouths  an  oath 
rolled  with  the  ease  and  deliberation  of  their 
tobacco  smoke,  regarded  him  as  a  personal 
friend. 

**  He  looks  stuck  up,  but  he  ain't  stuck  up,' 

they  said.     *•  He's  clean  all  the  way  down  and 

all  the  way  through  and  game  as  a  grizzly  bear, 

and  we  know.  We've  followed  him  on  the  trail." 

13s 


GEITING  ACQUAINTED 


The  sincere  fellowship  which  he  felt  for  them 
in  return  belongs  to  that  philosophy  which 
makes  of  the  young  men  of  old  but  impover- 
ished families,  good  and  cheerful  prospectors, 
ranchers,  and  cowboys.  Not  in  fancy — which 
misled  so  many  poor  souls  among  the  Chee- 
chawkos — but  in  fact,  they  prefer  the  indepen- 
dent life  of  a  mining  camp  to  working  for  a  sal- 
ary in  a  city ;  prefer  washing  their  own  dishes 
and  rising  at  3  a.m.,  and  harnessing  the  dogs  to 
start  on  the  trail  to  going  to  an  office  every 
morning  and  leaving  it  every  afternoon  at  a 
certain  hour.  By  all  the  manners  that  stamp 
the  man,  Voss  was  a  child  of  civilization,  and 
such  a  child  as  was  equal  to  carrying  out  his 
determination  not  to  return  to  it  until  he  was 
master  in  his  own  right  of  the  little  luxuries 
that  keep  the  taste  of  ashes  out  of  the  mouth. 
Often  he  spoke  of  these,  then  ran  his  hands 
into  the  pockets  of  his  overalls,  took  a  pull  at 
his  pipe,  and  looked  at  his  dumps  with  an 
anticipation  as  keen  as  that  of  some  naval  cap- 
tain of  Drake's  day  in  sight  of  the  chalk  clifTs 
of  England,  after  years  in  foreign  countries  on 
rations  of  hard  biscuit. 

"  But  even  before  I  carry  out  my  plans  of 
travel,"  he  said,  "  I  shall  buy  a  ranch,  where  I 

133 


-if. 


if! 


m'U 


m 


k 


\-  '  ii 


:ir 


ii 


p 


I?'  '■' 

If"    j 
I) 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

shall  have  a  home  with  no  other  habitations  m 
sight ;  where  I  shall  have  a  good  saddle-horse 
waiting  for  me,  whenever  I  shall  grow  tired  of 
town.  Once  you  have  become  accustomed  to 
the  silence  of  the  plains,  the  mountains,  and  the 
trail,  mere  country  houses  will  not  satisfy  you 
— something  gets  into  the  blood." 

•'  You  all  catch  it,  I  see,"  I  interrupted. 
"Joe  Staleysays  it's  like  rhcumatiz'  and  it  gets 
not  into  the  blood  but  into  the  bones." 

*'  Yes,  bones — blood  and  bones,  both  ! "  was 
the  reply. 

He  had  four  retainers,  who  lived  in  his 
cabin:  the  boy,  the  Archdeacon,  Jim,  and 
Grouse,  the  fo\-terrier.  The  boy  was  sixteen 
or  seventeen.  He  had  gone  to  the  Klondyke, 
against  his  parents'  wishes,  to  iind  hiinseif  non- 
plussed by  the  necessity  of  a  food  supply  for 
the  winter  months.  Voss  put  him  on  his  feet. 
The  Archdeacon  was  of  the  Established  Church 
and  a  graduate  of  Oxford.  He  did  not  seem 
to  be,  but  he  must  have  been,  older  than  the 
boy,  for  he  was  gray  and  the  father  of  three 
children.  Shortly  af:  .'r  h(*  was  ordained  arch- 
deacon the  something  had  "got  into  "  his  blood 
and  bones,  and  lie  vacillated  between  the 
church  and  travel  until  his  meanderings  brouglit 


lit 


GETTING  ACQUAINTED 

the  promise  of  a  brilliant  career  to  the  guar- 
dianship of  a  flock  of  Indians,  halfway  around 
the  world.  He  baked  the  best  bread  that  I 
ate  in  the  Klondyke.  Though  he  accepted 
praise  on  that  score  as  quietly  as  he  did  every- 
thing else,  I  could  see  that  it  pleased  him — 
better,  perhaps,  than  the  praise  of  a  bisnop. 
In  getting  breakfast,  which  he  had  taken  upon 
himself  as  one  of  his  tasks,  his  slippered  feet 
moved  about  so  softly  that  you  were  not  awak- 
ened until  his  voice  called  you  at  the  right 
moment. 

"  It  is  good  to  see  many  kinds  of  men  and  to 
do  many  things,"  he  volunteered,  as  he  lifted  a 
flapjack  from  the  skillet  to  my  plate.  '*  When 
all  the  world  was  going  to  the  Klondyke,  I  had 
to  join  the  throng.  I  got  a  lay  on  Bonanza 
and  put  some  men  to  work  on  it.  But,  unfort- 
unately, I  had  no  food  for  myself.  Mr.  Voss" 
— the  Archdeacon  never  omitted  the  Mister — 
•* asked  me  to  come  and  live  with  him  through 
the  winter.  What  a  pity  it  is  that  there  isn't 
such  a  good  fellow  as  Mr.  Voss  to  take  care  of 
every  unfortunate  fellow  like  me ! " 

Jim,  in  the  language  of  the  Klondyke,  was  a 
"sour-dough  stiff,"  and  he  was  certainly  an 
uniKipj)y   man.      A    "sour-dough   stiff"    Vvill, 

135 


I' 


- 1 " 


fii 


!■! 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

under  no  circumstances,  eat  bpiking-powder 
bread.  This  eccentricity,  developed  in  the 
later  years  of  a  prospector's  life,  generates 
others  which  are  its  natural  companions.  He 
thinks  that  baking  powder  in  the  smallest 
quantity  is  poisonous,  and,  therefore,  is  as 
finicky  and  miserable  as  any  other  man  who 
becomes  a  victim  of  dyspepsia  through  forever 
thinking  of  some  means  to  avoid  it. 

In  addressing  his  employer  Jim  uttered  the 
word  *•  Voss"  in  a  harsh  voice,  as  if  calling  at- 
tention to  its  nudity  and  implying  that  he 
would  not  subvert  his  rights  as  a  free  man  by 
using  "  Mister,"  though  he  were  to  hang  for  it. 
He  was  the  first  to  rise  in  the  morning  and  he 
always  prepared  his  own  breakfast. 

'*  Some  folks  don't  like  my  cookin',  an'  I 
don't  like  some  folks'  cookin',  either,"  he  ex- 
plained. 

On  some  occasions,  when  he  felt  a  little  lazy, 
he  would  condescend  to  eat  at  the  table  with 
the  others,  but  with  an  expression  of  martyr- 
dom on  his  thin,  old  face.  Voss  told  me  that 
Jim  would  probably  confide  to  me  at  the  first 
opportunity  how  grossly  the  claim  was  mis- 
managed, and  so  he  did.  Voss  forgave  his  ec- 
centricities partly    because   they   amused   him 

136 


GETTING  ACQUAINTED 

and  his  friends,  and  partly  because  Jim  was  an 
expert  in  saving  fine  gold  from  floating  down 
to  the  waste  pile. 

Jim's  contempt  for  the  Alaskan  miner's 
knowledge  of  sluicing  was  pleasant  to  hear  un- 
less you  had  to  hear  it  often.  He  had  a  minia- 
ture sluice  for  treating  the  residue  which  con- 
tains the  lighter  particles.  It  were  better  to 
step  on  the  hem  of  your  wife's  skirt  on  the  way 
to  the  theatre  than  to  lay  your  hands  on  this 
fine  gold  machine,  as  he  called  it.  Whether  or 
not  it  was  worth  the  time  that  Jim  had  spent 
in  building  it,  was  a  grave  question  with  Voss. 

In  making  the  "clean-up  "  Jim  was  the  gen- 
eral in  charge  of  the  field.  The  best-natured 
men  on  the  claim  were  selected  to  assist  him, 
and  even  their  patience  sometimes  gave  out. 
Voss  himself,  accompanied  by  the  fox-terrier, 
who  was  general  superintendent  of  the  claim, 
winter  and  summer,  used  to  take  up  his  station 
at  the  water  gate,  lie  did  not  always  inter- 
pret Jim's  orders  satisfactorily,  and  I  overheard 
this  grumbling  complaint : 

•'  A  man  can't  play  with  a  dog  an'  pay 
'tention  to  business  at  the  same  time." 

Everybody  a!>out  the  claim  except  Jim  v.'as 
the  slave  of  the  fox-terrier's  moods.     In  New 

137 


\1   ■  r 


V 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

York  or  London  you  could  have  bought 
Grouse  for  five  dollars.  Voss  was  off ercd  $200 
for  him  by  another  claim  owner,  but  would  as 
soon  have  parted  with  his  claim.  I  knew  of 
only  one  other  terrier  in  the  Klondyke.  He 
was  a  companion,  deserving  the  affix  of  bull,  of 
a  doggy-looking  man  who  walked  up  and  down 
the  river  front  of  Dawson.  He  was  usually 
limping  on  three  legs,  but  not  infrequently  on 
two.  He  seemed  to  realize  his  position  as  the 
sole  representative  of  civilized  dogdom  among 
thousands  of  savages,  and  he  no  more  thought 
of  surrender  than  a  Roman  prefect.  The  boast 
of  his  master  that  he  could  whip  any  two  or 
three  of  the  huskies  wus  well  founded.  Even 
when  he  was  attacked  by  a  dozen  he  gave  more 
wounds  than  he  received,  retreating  with  the 
dignity  of  one  who  belongs  to  a  ruling  race. 

Provincial  as  V^oss's  claim  was  in  its  isolation 
from  the  world,  its  surroundings  were  cosmo- 
politan enough.  Among  iiis  employees,  aside 
from  Germans,  Swedes,  and  French-Canadians, 
were  a  Dalmatian  and  a  Turk.  The  Turk  was 
a  good  workman.  When  he  had  made  his 
"  stake  "  he  was  going  to  buy  a  fig  orchard  in 
southern  C'alifornia. 

On  the  day  that  I  visited  the  discovery  claim 


.::jnsKnt^^ 


GETTING  ACQUAINTED 

of  Siawash  George,  which  is  only  a  short  dis- 
tance beyond  Voss's,  several  Chcechawkos 
were  panning  some  gravel  at  the  very  point 
where  Indian  Charlie  had  found  the  famous 
nugget.  They  did  not  wash  out  a  single  color, 
and  passed  on  in  disgust  to  do  more  prospect- 
ing on  ground  whose  stakes — for  the  most  part 
fallen  down — had  been  driven  so  long  ago  that 
the  weather  had  cashed  off  the  writing  on 
their  four  hewn  sides.  Siawash  George  had 
expended  several  thousand  dollars  in  buying 
and  bringing  an  old  boiler  and  engine  up  to 
his  claim  from  Forty  Mile.  Owing  to  a  fatal 
defect  in  its  pumping  gear  it  would  not  sup- 
ply half  a  sluice-head  of  water  or  do  the  work 
of  a  small  dam  ;  but  the  noise  of  its  pufTmg 
and  his  ability  to  hire  an  engineer  to  superin- 
tend it  at  $15  a  day  greatly  amused  a  mind 
which  had  become  aboriginal  from  family  asso- 
ciations. 

Money  playing  an  important  part  in  the 
politics  of  /Vlaska  as  well  as  in  otiicr  countries, 
poor  George  ha«!  accjuired  a  fortune  only  to 
find  that  it  was  two-cdgrd  and  might  be  an  ob- 
stacle, as  well  as  instrumental,  in  the  fulfilment 
of  his  royal  ambition.     On   a  fatal  day  iu*  hatl 

brought  from   Dawson  to   his  wife  some  little 

139 


} 


l!    ! 


If 


I 


p. 


If 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

brown  things  in  a  box  which  was  lettered  in 
gilt.  She  had  found  them  so  superior  to  plain 
brown  sugar  that  they  had  opened  a  new  world 
to  her.  She  gave  over  her  rights  to  a  throne 
to  dream  of  the  day  when  she  should  take  pas- 
sage on  a  Yukon  steamer  to  the  land  where 
shops  were  filled  with  chocolate  bonbons. 

Joe  Powers  was  a  near  neighbor  of  Siawash 
George.  As  both  had  squaw  wives  there  was 
a  bond  of  union  between  them,  and  they  visited 
back  and  forth  a  great  deal.  Joe  could  not 
read  or  write,  I  was  told,  but  his  good  fellow- 
ship shone  out  of  his  ever-grinning  face. 

••  Some  of  the  boys  I  knowed  down  in  Circle 
and  Forty  Mile  that's  struck  it  big,"  he  told 
me  in  confidence,  **is  going  into  s'ciety  when 
they  get  on  the  outside.  But  I  ain't.  How  I 
would  look  in  s'ciety,  wouldn't  I  ?  The  rest 
of  the  boys  arc  about  on  the  same  pattern,  too, 
I  guess,  only  they  can't  see  it  when  they  look 
into  a  pool  of  water.  I'm  thankful  I  know 
them  dodgers  on  the  outside  arc  too  clever  for 
me.  I'll  buy  a  fruit  fnrm  in  Californy.  No- 
body cm  beat  me  out  o'  that." 

However  dangerous  a  little  learning  may  be 

to  some  of  the  oUl-timcrs,  one  docs  not   envy 

them  their  dust,  spend  it  how  they  will.     It  is 

140 


GETTING  ACQUAINTED 

fitting  that  they  who  bore  the  brunt  of  the 
robust  business  of  pioneering  should  occupy 
the  cabins  of  the  masters  on  the  Eldorado  and 
the  Bonanza  claims.  Graduates  of  colleges 
and  universities,  who  work  for  them  with  pick 
and  shovel  for  a  dollar  an  hour,  arrived  on  the 
scene  after  the  great  strikes,  and  must  take  the 
consequences. 

It  is  scarcely  lialf  a  mile  from  Siawash 
George's  to  the  cluster  of  cabins  at  the  mouth 
of  Eldorado ;  and  Eldorado  Hows  into  Bonanza 
about  midway  of  its  working  claims,  making  of 
The  Forks,  as  the  contluence  of  the  two 
streams  is  called,  the  hub  of  a  wheel  with  three 
spokes.  When  Miss  Mulrooney  came  up  to 
The  Forks  in  the  autumn  of  1897  she  appre- 
ciated the  mathematical  advantage  of  the  sit- 
uation at  once,  and  acted  upon  her  |)erceptic)n 
with  such  decision  that  the  news  of  her  won- 
derful undertaking  went  up  and  down  the 
creeks  that  very  day. 

"  Bt)ys,"    said    the    heralds  to   the   scoffers, 

"there's  a  new  woman  up  to  The   Forks  with 

a  bit  of  an   Irish   brogue  and  the  tongue  of  a 

lawyer,  that's  goin'  to  show  us  old  moss-backs 

how  to  get  rich.      Hanged  if  she  ain't  got  so 

much  money  to  lose  that  she's  goin'  to  build  a 

141 


r 


:, 


;  ! 


Il: 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

two-story  hotel  bigger'n  any  in  Dawson  right 
up  here  on  the  creeks." 

*•  Strange  things  was  to  be  expected  from 
the  Cheechawkos  once  the  news  of  a  strike  got 
into  the  newspapers  all  over  the  States,"  said 
the  scoffers ;  while  the  saloon-keepers,  being 
specialists  on  the  subject,  apprehended  with 
professional  disdain  that  Miss  Mulrooney 
might  as  well  start  a  hotel  at  the  head  of  the 
Stewart  or  at  the  North  Pole. 

The  next  instalment  of  news  related  that 
Miss  Mulrooney  was  up  on  the  hill-side  super- 
intending the  labors  of  the  one  lone  mule  sur- 
viving of  those  brought  down  the  river  on 
rafts  in  the  summer,  which  she  had  hired  for 
$20  a  day  to  drag  logs  to  the  site  of  her 
building.  That  class  of  women  who  are  too 
common  in  the  Klondyke  are  not  given  to 
this  sort  of  thing ;  and,  moreover,  they  wear 
bloomers,  while  Miss  Mulrooney  wore  long 
skirts.  A  new  woman  deserved  punishment 
for  such  folly,  but  a  good  woman  who  wore 
long  skirts  was  entitled  to  the  friendly  advice 
which  one  of  the  leading  claim-owners  under- 
took to  supply. 

*•  I've  been  in  the  country  some  time,"   he 

told  Miss  Mulroonc  ,  "and   I  don't  mind  tell- 

14a 


right 


if 


from 
egot 

said 
being 

with 
3oney 
of  the 

i  that 
super- 
le  sur- 
fer on 
ed  for 
3f  httr 
re  too 
en   to 
r  wear 
.'  long 
ihmcnt 
)  wore 
advice 
under- 


v.UfU^ 


Miss  .\\iilr<M.ik'\   (il    Ilk'  I'orks. 


r 


t    1 


w 


je,"   he 
id  tell- 


GETTING  ACQUAINTED 


ing  you  for  your  own  interest  that  Dawson's 
the  place,  not  The  Forks,  for  a  hotel." 

**  Now,  that's  kind  of  you,"  assented  Miss 
Mulrooney.  "  And  may  I  ask  if  you  would 
like  something  to  drink  ?" 

••  Er-r-r,  well,"  stuttered  the  Committee  of 
One,  as  he  tried  to  get  his  bearings,  "  well,  I 
admit  I  sometimes  do,  like  the  most  of  the 
boys — but  I  didn't  know  as  you'd  be  mention- 
in'  that." 

♦•Oh,  I'm  not,  and  I'm  not  likely  to,"  with 
a  toss  of  her  head,  •'  when  I  know  there's  no 
chance  of  your  accepting.  Of  course,  if  you 
or  any  of  the  other  boys  was  hungry  or  thirsty 
you  wouldn't  think  of  buying  a  drink  or  a 
meal  up  here.  You'd  walk  sixteen  miles  to 
Dawson  and  back  for  it,  wouldn't  you  ?  And 
the  boys  going  over  the  divide  to  Dominion  or 
Sulphur  when  they  break  the  journey  at  The 
Forks  would  hang  up  in  a  tree  over  night  be- 
fore they'd  sleep  in  a  hotel,  wouldn't  they,  now?" 

A  light  burst  upon  the  Committee  of  One. 

"You'll  pass.  Miss  Mulrooney,  you'll  pass," 
he  said.  •'  You  kin  take  care  o'  yourself  all 
right.  With  that  head  of  yours,  you'll  own  the 
Klon'yke  by  the  time  you've  been  in  the  coun- 
try us  krg  as  I  have." 

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Photographic 

Sdences 

Corporation 


a:i  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14SS0 

(716)  •73-4503 


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IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

And  the  word  that  Miss  Mulrooney  was  all 
right  was  passed  along  the  line.  Every  man 
on  the  creeks  looked  forward  to  the  date  of  the 
opening  of  her  hotel.  A  democratic  commu- 
nity could  not  confer  titles,  but  it  might  call  her 
Miss  Mulrooney  of  the  Forks,  and  thus  she 
will  be  known  for  all  time  among  Klondykers. 

Meanwhile,  she  expected  that  every  day 
would  be  the  lone  mule's  last.  There  was 
neither  hay  nor  oats  in  the  country.  As  the 
story  was  told  to  me,  he  held  body  and  soul  to- 
gether on  birch  bark  and  willow  sprouts  until 
the  final  log  was  dragged  to  the  foundations, 
and  then  promptly  expired. 

"  He  had  nothing  to  live  on,"  as  Miss  Mul- 
rooney expressed  it,  "  and  nothing  to  live  for, 
and  I'm  thinkin'  the  poor  fellow  was  so  slow 
because  he  just  knew  that  his  interest  in  the 
enterprise  was  all  that  kept  him  up ;  and,  like 
the  rest  of  us,  he  wanted  to  postpone  the  last 
hour  as  long  as  he  could." 

The  third  night  after  the  hotel  was  opened 

the  Committee  of  One,  himself,  had  to  sleep 

on  the  floor  because  the  bunks  were  all  taken. 

Nothing  could  have  served    Miss  Mulrooney 

better  than  the  food-panic  of  midn^nter.     She 

had  bought  a  full  supply  before  everyone  be- 

144 


GETTING  ACQUAINTED 


gan  to  hoard  whatever  beans  or  flour  or 
whiskey  he  could  get.  All  but  two  of  the 
restaurants  in  Dawson  had  to  close  their  doors. 
The  two  exceptions  on  f^te  days  gave  butter 
and  apple  sauce  along  with  bacon,  beans,  and 
coffee.  Their  owners  grew  to  regard  Miss 
Mulrooney  as  their  animate  consciences  whose 
voice  was  that  of  every  miner  who  ate  a  meal 
in  Dawson  when  he  was  down  from  the  creeks. 

"  I  don't  mind  paying  double,"  said  the  Com- 
mittee of  One,  to  a  Dawson  waiter,  "s'long 
's  I  get  suthin  to  eat.  Just  bring  that  din- 
ner over  again.  Then  I'll  have  only  half  a 
square  meal  for  $5,  not  to  mention  that  no 
fixin's  go  with  it.  Miss  Mulrooney  charges 
$3.50  for  a  square,  but  she  gives  you  canned 
beef,  canned  mutton,  and  ham,  and  fixin's,  and 
keeps  askin*  you  if  you  won't  have  more  and 
you  keep  acceptin'  till  you  have  to  send  for 
a  drink  'fore  you're  strong  enough  to  get  up 
from  the  table.  Jumpin*  John  Rogers  !  How 
you  fellers  must  suffer  when  you  pass  out  a 
bean  and  a  rind  and  think  of  what  a  woman 
is  doin'  up  there  to  The  Forks !  " 

If  you  want  to  reach  a  man's  heart  through 
his  stomach  in  a  scurvy-stricken  country,  feed 
him,  if  it  is  the  best  you  have,  with  sauce  made 

145 


.!^, 


!'^ 


If 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

of  dried  apples.  Miss  Mulrooney  kept  a  great 
bowlful  of  this  on  her  table.  The  transient 
ate  of  its  contents  with  the  ravenousness  of 
the  thirsty  traveller  drinking  from  a  spring  of 
cold  water.  No  sooner  was  it  emptied — 
I  know  by  actual  observation  of  a  quart  of 
apple-sauce  having  been  eaten  by  two  persons 
— than  it  was  filled  again  by  the  cook,  rapid 
if  rough  in  his  movements,  who  picked  it  up 
and  put  it  down  as  if  it  were  a  red-hot  ingot 

The  ground  floor  of  the  hotel  was  divided 
into  the  bar-room  and  the  dining-room.  Cards 
were  permitted,  but  no  gaming-tables  were 
maintained.  Upstairs  was  a  tier  of  bunks 
running  along  the  wall,  with  a  passageway  be- 
tween them.  The  blankets  seemed  cleaner 
than  elsewhere — no  hotel  had  sheets — and  the 
bunks  had  curtains.  Either  a  nice  sense  of 
individuality  or  sheer  fatigue  restrained  the 
guests  from  removing  their  socks,  and  I  have 
known  miners  who  were  over-tired  by  a  long 
tramp  not  to  remove  their  boots.  They  had 
enough  respect  for  Miss  Mulrooney  to  hang 
the  soles  of  them  over  the  edge  of  the  bunk, 
however,  though,  if  in  their  dreams  they  should 
participate  in  a  stampede  to  some  new  creek, 

their  good  intentions  were  sadly  belied.     The 

146 


GETTING  ACQUAINTED 


•he 


sole  occupant  of  a  lower  bunk,  which  was  sup- 
posed to  accommodate  two  in  case  of  neces- 
sity, might  be  awakened  at  any  hour  by  a 
nudge,  and  : 

"  Pardner,  sorry  to  trouble  you,  but  I  guess 
you'll  have  to  move  over  a  bit  to  make  room 
for  me." 

In  winter  the  curse  of  a  Klondyke  cabin, 
banked  with  snow,  chinked  with  moss  and 
dirt  to  the  last  crack  and  knothole,  is  lack  of 
ventilation.  In  summer,  when  there  is  no 
night  and  no  two  men  quite  agree  on  their 
hours  of  sleep  or  hours  for  travelling,  it  was 
as  good  as  reading  a  local  newspaper  to  try 
to  sleep  at  Miss  Mulrooney's.  The  widening 
cracks  between  boards  of  fir  (put  into  the 
floors  and  partitions  while  yet  green)  never 
permitted  the  slightest  details  of  conversation 
over  the  card-table  or  over  the  bar  to  be  in- 
audible, except  during  unavoidable  and  scarcely 
welcome  intervals  when  you  heard  the  tramp- 
ing and  scuffling  of  heavy  boots.  I  could  dis- 
cern the  direction  the  traveller  was  going  upon 
entering  the  dining-room  door  ;  whether  he 
was  coming  up  stairs  to  bed,  or  was  going  to 
call  out  to  the  cook  for  a  *•  squar  "  or  **  half  a 
dozen  eggs." 

147 


i 


u 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

Andrew,  a  quiet,  soft-voiced,  obliging  young 
man,  who  wore  a  white  shirt  and  was  solici- 
tous about  keeping  his  ^ie  straight,  had  charge 
of  the  bar.  According  to  all  the  traditions  of 
new  placer  mining  camps  he  was  as  much  out 
of  place  as  the  average  bartender  would  be  in 
a  chair  of  moral  philosophy.  He  was  so  es- 
sentially lacking  in  combativeness  that  no  one 
ever  thought  of  picking  a  quarrel  with  him. 
Luck  and  whiskey,  however,  despite  the  North- 
west Mounted  Police,  will  generate  in  miners 
a  surplus  energy  which  they  are  inclined  to  ex- 
pend upon  furniture  if  not  upon  one  another. 
Miss  Mulrooney  did  not  depend  for  purposes 
of  pacification  upon  a  huge  St.  Bernard  who 
was  always  at  her  side  when  he  was  not  draw- 
ing her  upon  her  sled  up  and  down  the  creeks 
in  winter,  but  rather  upon  her  blarney.  She 
knew  when,  where,  and  just  how  much  to 
apply. 

"  I  always  appeal  to  their  best  instincts,"  she 
said.  "  It's  easy  to  lead  and  hard  to  drive. 
That's  what  you  men  don't  understand.  You 
try  to  drive." 

I  saw  her  theory  put  to  the  test  of  practice. 
A  giant  who  was  so  well  on  in  his  cups  that 
he  could  scarcely  walk,  concluded,  only  half 

148 


II  I 


GETTING  ACQUAINTED 

an  hour  after  he  had  finished  one,  that  he 
wanted  another  meal.  When  it  was  placed 
before  him  he  seemed  to  think  that  the  cook 
was  trying  to  hurt  his  feelings  by  making  him 
eat  twice,  and  with  an  oath  he  threw  a  dish  of 
stew  on  the  floor.  Miss  Mulrooney  happened 
to  be  passing  through  the  room  at  the  time. 
She  stepped  over  to  him  and  told  him  in  her 
pleasantest  tone  that  accidents  would  happen. 

"  Accident  ?  "  he  asked,  dazedly. 

"  Of  course,"  she  said.  "  I  know  you're  too 
much  of  a  gentleman  to  do  such  a  thing  pur- 
posely." 

"  Coursh  !  Coursh  it  was  ! "  he  kept  repeat- 
ing, as  he  dropped  down  on  to  his  knees  and 
tried  to  scrape  the  stew  up  into  a  little  pile, 
despite  her  protests. 

Then  out  of  the  maze  of  his  crippled  mem- 
ory another  horror  presented  itself  suddenly 
and  prompted  him  to  arise. 

"  Miss  Mulrooney,"  he  asked,  his  face  very 
red,  *•  did  you  hear  me  swear  ? " 

"  A  little  one — a  slip,"  she  replied. 

He  told  her  that  it  was  only  a  real  lady  who 
would  put  so  liberal  a  construction  on  what  he 
called  a  breach  of  "  ettykit."  Fearful,  never- 
theless, that  she  might   secretly  think   ill   of 

149 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

him,  he  followed  her  about  the  hotel  with  apol- 
ogies and  dripping  hands  while  he  kept  repeat- 
ing how  a  poor  devil  might  be  a  little  weak,  so 
rarely  did  a  good  bench  claim  fall  to  a  poor 
devil's  lot,  until  the  inner  workings  of  his  con- 
science culminated  in  a  full  confession  that  the 
plate  had  not  been  broken  by  accident  but  in- 
tentionally. She  forgave  him  even  this,  and 
then  he  went  up-stairs  and  to  sleep. 

"  What  I  want  to  do  is  to  make  money,  you 
may  be  sure,"  Miss  Mulrooney  would  say  if 
you  persuaded  her  to  tell  you  her  story.  "  I 
was  born  in  Scranton,  Pennsylvania.  I  had 
to  earn  my  own  living  before  I  was  out  of 
short  skirts,  and  I  kept  on  doing  a  little  better 
from  one  thing  to  another,  till  I  was  stew- 
ardess of  a  steamer  on  the  Pacific  Coast. 
There's  nothing  like  being  a  stewardess  to  de- 
velop your  wits  when  you're  just  a  bit  too 
independent  for  the  job  and  you  have  to  give 
the  passengers  as  good  as  they  send  when 
they're  sassy.  I  remember  an  old  Englishman 
who  expected  me  to  black  his  boots.  I  told 
him  I  wouldn't,  and  I  told  him  if  he  put  'em 
outside  his  door  again  I'd  be  thinkin'  he  was 
wantin'  ice-water  and   turn  a  pitcherful   into 

'em.     He  went  to  the  captain.     The  captain 

150 


h  i; 


GETTING  ACQUAINTED 

was  a  Scotchman  and  he  didn't  believe  in  put- 
tin'  on  airs ;  and  when  the  captain  sent  for  me 
and  I  went  to  the  captain's  room  I  found  the 
old  gentleman  there.  Before  we  came  out  I 
had  him  laughin',  and  I'd  never  blacked  his 
boots,  either.  But  runnin'  errands  doesn't  suit 
me.  I  started  for  the  Klondyke  as  soon  as  I 
heard  of  it,  and  like  the  rest  I'm  going  back 
either  rich  or  broke." 

The  last  time  I  saw  Miss  Mulrooney  she 
was  in  Dawson  searching  for  a  good  location 
for  a  hotel  which  was  to  have  sheets  and  be 
positively  palatial.  Three  weeks  later,  so  I  am 
told,  it  was  completed.  Once  her  first  venture 
succeeded,  she  had  begun  to  speculate  in  min- 
ing properties.  Her  position  at  The  Forks 
gave  her  exceptional  opportunities  for  inside 
information,  and  she  was  a  "  pardner "  of  a 
dozen  leading  citizens  in  as  many  enterprises. 

"  If  you  ever  go  to  Chicago  or  New  York," 
I  suggested  to  her,  '*  the  women's  clubs  will  be 
making  a  heroine  of  you  as  an  example  of  what 
their  sex  can  do." 

"  Not  if  I  know  it,"  she  replied.  "  They 
won't,  I'm  thinkin*,  if  they  hear  I  sold  whiskey. 
Besides,  there's  nothin*  new  about  me.  I'm 
old-fashioned." 

151 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

Without  abusing  a  much-abused  word,  I 
think  that  Miss  Mulrooney  may  be  called  a  re- 
markable woman,  more  particularly  as  her  own 
opinion  of  herself  is  quite  the  contrary. 


E     ' 


ii 


i 


tt 


J  ■■ 


ii 


VIII 


ARCTIC  TRAITS 


Daily  Life  in  Dawson — Renting  a  Cabin— Circumventing  the 
Huskies— Joey  Boureau  and  His  Restaurant — The  Faro 
Dealer's  Wife  and  Her  Bakery— The  Laundryman  and 
His  Claim — ^Jack  Beltz's  Schemes— A  Pair  of  Dreamers. 

IT  depends  upon  the  season  of  the  year 
whether  the  town-site  of  Dawson  is  liquid, 
mushy,  or  as  flinty  as  frozen  ground  can  be. 
At  one  time  in  the  summer  of  1898  most  of  it 
was  under  water.  Two  weeks  later,  the  Yukon 
having  fallen  some  sixteen  feet,  this  same  town- 
site  was  at  a  respectable  height  above  the  level 
of  the  stream.  The  smaller  sandbar  on  the  op- 
posite side  of  the  mouth  of  the  Klondyke,  which, 
out  of  respect  to  the  cabins  which  cover  an  area 
of  six  or  seven  acres,  has  been  called  Klondyke 
City,  is  without  the  surface  layer  of  muck  which 
held  sewage  as  in  a  sponge  under  the  noses  of 
the  residents  of  Dawson.  The  good  nature  of 
the  fellow,  known  as  **  Dud,"  who  keeps  the  sole 
saloon   and   hotel  at  Klondyke  City,  was  as 

153 


T 


^'  ii 


p   1 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

largely  responsible  for  our  choice  of  abode  as 
the  healthfulness  of  the  location.  Empty  cab- 
ins were  scarce.  **  Dud "  said  he  had  one  to 
rent.  When  I  asked  him  the  price,  I  offended 
him. 

"  You  walk  right  in  and  stay  till  I  tell  you  to 
get  out,"  he  said.  "  But  if  you  go  shakin'  your 
dust  in  my  face  I  won't  let  you  have  it  at  all." 

So  we  stood  our  sleds  up  beside  the  door,  set 
up  our  little  Yukon  stove,  threw  our  blankets 
on  the  floor,  and  were  at  home.  The  comfort 
of  my  daily  existence  I  felt  to  be  great  com- 
pared with  a  bunk  in  a  bunk-house  for  $2.50  a 
night,  or  a  room  with  cloth  partitions  over  a 
bar  for  $10  a  night. 

Fritz,  who  liked  movement  and  life,  went  over 
to  town  to  live  in  the  cabin  of  a  friend,  leaving 
Jack  and  me  to  do  our  own  cooking  or  to  eat 
at  the  restaurant  when  we  were  of  idle  mind. 
The  dogs  also  patronized  the  restaurant  with- 
out standing  on  ceremony.  "  Jack  "  carried  off 
almost  the  last  ham  in  the  camp,  having  lifted 
it  from  a  nail  with  the  unostentatiousness  of 
an  expert  thief.  The  proprietors  of  the  res- 
taurant would  not  listen  to  reimbursement. 
They  explained  that  anybody  who  had  been 
in  the  country  for  six  years  and  let  a  husky 

154 


i!   .1 


ARCTIC  TRAITS 


dog  get  the  better  of  him  deserved  to  be  mulct- 
ed. It  is  out  of  deference  to  the  husky  dog 
that  the  miner  builds  little  caches,  set  on  poles, 
for  storing  food,  which  make  the  town  look 
like  a  Bornese  village,  whose  inhabitants  have 
deserted  their  old  homes  to  live  in  cabins. 

The  proprietors  of  the  restaurant,  in  my 
opinion,  were  well  worth  knowing.  Joey  Bou- 
reau — undeniably  French-Canadian,  but  forever 
repeating  that  he  was  a  citizen  oi  the  United 
States — was  almost  as  dark  as  a  Moor,  with  the 
torso  of  a  Turkish  wrestler.  He  yielded  neither 
to  excess  nor  fatigue,  blustered  at  times,  never 
cared  for  to-morrow,  and  was  possessed  of  a 
ready  wit.  His  blague  had  a  counterpart  in  the 
blarney  of  his  partner,  Tim,  undeniably  Irish 
American  and  proud  of  it.  This  pair  had  been 
inseparable  for  the  many  years  that  they  had 
sought  gold  with  the  pick  and  in  all  the  ways  of 
camp  life.  Upon  the  scales  at  the  end  of  the 
oilcloth-covered  dining  table  they  weighed  out 
$2.50  worth  of  dust  out  of  your  bag  whenever 
you  ate  off  their  board.  Whichever  one  hap- 
pened to  be  in  did  the  cooking,  and  if  both  were 
in,  one  told  stories  to  amuse  the  guests  and 
acted  as  cashier. 

But  both  were  seldom  there.     One  was  usu- 

155 


4 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

ally  at  "  Dud's "  faro  table.  The  other,  when 
he  grew  tired  of  working  brought  his  *'  pardner  " 
home  on  his  arm,  installed  him  in  the  kitchen, 
and  immediately  went  out  to  enjoy  a  little  rec- 
reation on  his  own  account.  As  he  took  with 
him  whatever  dust  there  was  in  the  tomato-can, 
which  served  as  their  cash-box,  we  heard  fre- 
quent excuses  for  the  absence  of  moose  steak 
on  the  table  because  of  lack  of  funds  to  pur- 
chase it.  Just  as  their  business  was  beginning 
to  prosper  they  sold  it  for  a  song  to  a  Chee- 
chawko  whom  they  met  on  the  river-front.  A 
week  in  town  sufficed  to  spend  the  song,  and 
then  they  put  packs  on  their  backs  and  started 
over  the  hills,  whistling  as  they  went. 

In  one  of  the  neighboring  cabins  the  wife  of 
a  faro  dealer  had  set  up  a  bakery.  We  paid  her 
fifty  cents  apiece  for  pies  and  fifty  cents  for 
loaves  of  bread,  and  had  to  order  them  before- 
hand to  make  sure  of  getting  them. 

Our  laundryman  had  staked  a  claim  in  which 
he  placed  great  hopes ;  but  his  invariable  charge 
remained  seventy-five  cents  a  garment.  He  re- 
lated with  a  realism  almost  tragic  the  details  of 
the  processes  by  which  he  had  arrived  at  the 
original  color  of  the  khaki  trousers  that  I  had 

worn  on  the  trail.     Jack  Beltz,  for  his  part,  se- 

156 


when 


'I 


5  rec- 
vvith 
-can, 
if  re- 


Jack  Beltz. 


1| 


U 


"The  Huskies." 


if''- 

I'M 


f^  1 

1     t 

y 

ARCTIC  TRAITS 


cured  the  loan  of  an  old  tub  and  a  washboard, 
and  after  a  day's  labor  surveyed  bandanna  hand- 
kerchiefs and  what  not  hung  out  on  the  line 
with  the  mien  of  a  conqueror. 

Economy,  however,  was  always  a  matter  of 
necessity  with  him.  On  the  first  night  of  his  re- 
turn from  town  he  said,  with  some  pride,  that 
he  still  had  most  of  the  dust  which  he  had  re- 
ceived in  conclusion  of  our  contract.  The  next 
night  before  going  to  bed  he  built  a  fire  in  the 
stove  out  of  the  driftwood  which  he  snaked  out 
of  the  river  for  fuel,  and  sat  for  a  long  time  in  a 
reverie. 

"Well,  I'll  have  to  earn  some  more,"  he 
said,  finally,  to  himself,  and  dropped  upon  his 
blankets. 

In  the  morning,  followed  by  his  troop  of 
dogs,  who  had  regained  their  spirits  and  their 
flesh,  because  he  had  fed  them  so  bountifully, 
he  went  up  on  the  mountain  side,  where  he 
picked  a  great  bouquet  of  the  wild  flowers  which 
spring  up  in  such  profusion  in  summer.  He 
never  told  me  of  his  losses,  and  I  tried  to  avoid 
the  appearance  of  suspecting  the  truth,  at  the 
same  time  that  I  took  practical  measures  to 
obviate  an  effort  to  dispose  of  his  robe  for  cash 
and  to  hypothecate  his  year's  outfit,  which  was 

157 


ir 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 


ii 


II     It 


to  be  brought  down  the  river  by  his  "  pandner," 
Cliff. 

Meanwhile,  he  revolved  in  his  mind  many 
schemes  for  making  money.  The  price  of 
moose  steak,  $1.50  a  pound,  suggested  to  him 
that  a  fortune  might  be  made  in  moose  hunt- 
ing. Learning  that  Dawson  had  no  bowling 
alley,  he  so  far  arranged  to  start  one  as  to  find 
that  balls  and  pins  could  not  be  obtained 
nearer  than  Seattle.  This  scheme  was  suc- 
ceeded by  the  more  alluring  prospect  of  taking 
dogs,  which  are  valueless  in  summer,  as  they 
are  valuable  in  winter,  to  an  island  in  the  river 
to  feed  for  so  much  a  month.  Always  before 
his  dream  had  taken  definite  form  he  dismissed 
it  by  saying  he  was  no  city  man.  He  recalled 
his  experience  in  keeping  the  restaurant  in  a 
British  Columbia  mining  towh,  and  he  reverted 
to  a  proposition  that  was  to  the  liking  of  his 
love  of  robust  vagabondage  : 

"  I'll  get  a  pardner  and  take  the  dogs  and  go 
up  to  the  head-waters  of  the  Porcupine  and 
cross  over  to  the  Mackenzie.  It  would  be  a 
rattling  trip ! " 

As  if  in  excuse  of  his  venture  he  would  add 
that  he  was  certain  to  find  gold  in  that  region. 

One  day  another   dreamer,   Kidd,  came  to 

188 


ARCTIC  TRAITS 


many 


join  us.  He  was  a  protfeg^  of  Jack,  who  had 
found  him  trying  to  put  his  outfit  over  the 
Pass.  There  must  have  been  such  giants  as 
Kidd,  with  such  straight  noses,  curling  black 
hair  and  curling  black  beard,  in  the  phalanxes 
that  confounded  the  Persians.  But  this  type 
of  the  freshness  and  strength  of  country  life 
was  quite  modern.  He  slouched  into  the 
cabin  with  his  hands  in  his  pockets,  and  in- 
cluded in  the  drawl  with  which  he  greeted  us  a 
Missourian  '*  Doggone  it !  "  Like  many  other 
unfortunate  fellows,  Kidd  had  been  obliged  to 
spend  the  whole  winter  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  Pass.  Jack  and  his  partner  had  made  him 
a  tent-mate  in  their  camp  on  the  banks  of  Lin- 
derman,  during  the  dreary  period  of  waiting. 
Going  on  to  Le  Barge  after  our  departure  from 
Linderman,  he  had  arrived  in  Dawson  before 
Cliff. 

'*  That  boy  comes  from  a  good  family,"  said 
Jack  ;  "  and  I'll  bet  they're  proud  as  anybody 
tjiat  ever  had  a  grand-dad  who  owned  a  lot  of 
niggers  and  went  stone  broke  after  the  war. 
He  don't  say  nothin'  about  it,  but  it  sticks  out 
all  over  him.  He  didn't  know  how  to  hitch  a 
pack  on  a  mule's  back  when  I  first  met  him. 
But  though  he  was  green,  he  wasn't  fresh ;  and 

159 


'I 


I 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

when  tenderfeet  are  that  way  they'll  learn  and 
you  like  to  learn  'em.  When  they  ain't,  you 
like  nothin'  better  than  to  give  'em  the  worst 
bronch'  on  the  ranch  and  leave  'em  to  find  out 
things  for  themselves." 

It  was  not  until  after  considerable  urging 
that  Kidd  would  consent  to  share  our  cabin. 
His  character  was  in  sharp  contrast  to  that  of 
another  young  stranger  who  entered  and  threw 
his  blankets  on  the  floor  for  the  night  without 
any  formalities.  In  the  morning,  picking  up 
certain  articles  of  my  kit  which  were  lying 
beside  my  bed,  he  said  : 

"You're  goin'  out  on  the  first  steamer. 
Don't  suppose  you  want  these,  do  you?  I'll 
take  'em  along.  They'll  come  in  handy  next 
winter." 

••  He'll  get  on,"  quoth  Jack,  "  but  I'm  ding- 
donged  if  he'll  get  on  with  my  help." 

Jack  now  included  Kidd  in  his  schemes, 
which  became  more  and  more  attenuated. 
Kidd  would  walk  back  and  forth  for  some 
time  as  if  in  deep  thought,  and  finally  drawl : 

**  Gee-mo-nee  !  We  must  do  something, 
Jack ! " 

And  Jack,  as  he  looked  out  upon  the  rapidly 
flowing  river,  would  agree,  and  relight  his  pipe. 

l6o 


1] 

1%,   'iwk 


ARCTIC  TRAITS 


I'll 


Kidd  admitted  that  he  was  homesick,  "dog- 
goned  homesick."  He  had  a  right  to  be,  for 
he  left  home  with  a  thousand  dollars  and  his 
mother's  blessing,  instead  of  finishing  his  educa- 
tion and  studying  for  the  country  bar. 

'•  Gee-mo-nee  ! "  he  exclaimed.  "  I  was 
green,  wasn't  I,  Jack?  I  thought  you'd  just 
pick  the  gold  up  once  you  got  here.  But  dog- 
goned  if  I'll  go  back  broke.  I'll  have  as  much 
as  I  had  when  I  left  or  stay  forever.  I've  got 
three  hundred  of  that  thousand  and  I'll  make 
seven  hundred  and  my  fare  out  some  way  this 
winter." 

One  day  the  dreamers  found  employment  on 
the  log  booms  for  the  new  saw-mill  that  was  to 
be  built  on  the  island  in  the  Klondyke  between 
Dawson  and  Klondyke  City.  Jack  was  as 
much  at  home  on  a  rolling  log  as  on  the  back 
of  a  broncho.  Poor  Kidd  fell  into  the  water 
often,  but  showed  great  persistence  until  the 
rise  in  the  river  made  work  impossible  and  left 
them  idle  again.  So  Jack  sat  by  the  cabin  door 
keeping  a  lookout  for  Cliff,  the  third  giant  of 
the  trio,  who  arrived  one  day,  with  a  broad  grin. 

•'  Gosh  !  "  he  exclaimed,  as  he  grasped  Jack's 
hand.  •'  I  was  washed  out  of  the  boat  when 
we   came   through    Five  Finger  Rapids,  anc' 

16 1 


i* 


I 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

blamed  if  I  wasn't  washed  in  again !  How's 
that  for  luck  ?  " 

There  was  something  of  the  New  England 
Yankee  in  him,  though  he  had  been  born  in 
Colorado. 

"  I'll  bet  you've  give  your  money  all  away, 
ain't  you,  Jack  ?  "  was  his  next  remark.  "  You 
wouldn't  be  Jack  if  you  hadn't." 

*•  Weeks  ago,"  was  the  reply. 

They  secured  a  contract  with  one  of  the 
saw-mills  to  cut  rafts  of  logs  sixty  miles  up  the 
river.  Here  was  a  chance  for  Jack  to  swing  an 
axe,  to  build  bonfires,  and  to  do  what  he  called 
an  honest  man's  work.  With  his  dogs  around 
him  on  the  day  of  his  departure  I  said  a  re- 
gretful good-by  to  the  vagabond. 


,f- 


i^. 


t6i 


IX 

PILGRIMS'  TRAILS  AND  TRIALS 

Itineraries-Alleged  Unimportance  of  Experience-The 
Case  of  Father  Stanley— Press  Agents  and  Primers 
OF  Wealth-The  Secretary  of  the  Seattle  Chamber  of 
Commerce  His  own  Convert-Pardners  and  Promoters 
-Outfits— Home  Comforts  for  an  Arctic  Climate- 
Heterogeneous  Boat  Loads-The  Nancy  G-Tragedies 
OF  THE  Passes. 

NEXT  to  taking  part  in  some  event  chroni- 
cled on  the  bulletin  boards  your  average 
pilgrim  of  fortune  best    enjoyed   being  near 
them.     Least  of  all  he  liked  waiting  in  latitude 
64  degrees  for  a  month  or  more  for  news  of 
progress  of  the   only  war  yet  waged  by  his 
country  in  his  generation.     When  he  left  home 
the  Klondyke  was  the  ruling  general  topic  of 
the  hour  in  the  newspapers.     When  he  reached 
his  destination  he  was  quite  forgotten,  and  pub- 
lic interest  was  entirely  absorbed  in  the  invasion 
of  Cuba. 

Viewed  in  one  light,  there  was  good  reason 
for  the  pique  which  he  naturally  felt   toward 

163 


* 


hi 


J' 

l'S< 


. 

M^ 


i  '^ 

u    f 

»■  ij; 

h'    *; 

1    * 

1  i 

i 

M't 

1 

IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

Shafter's  army.  He  might  see  many  wars,  for 
instance,  before  he  saw  the  like  of  this  Dawson 
pilgrimage  again.  Thirty-five  thousand  generals, 
each  one  his  own  quartermaster,  packing  a 
thousand  pounds  of  food  apiece  over  a  rugged 
coast  range  of  mountains,  building  a  flotilla 
with  axe  and  vvhipsaw  out  of  the  primeval  forest, 
and  travelling  six  hundred  miles  into  a  country 
having  an  arctic  climate  in  winter  and  a  tropi- 
cal climate  in  summer  and  yielding  no  food  ex- 
cept a  little  game,  presented  a  spectacle  more 
romantic,  if  not  so  exciting,  as  the  massing  of 
an  army  corps  under  one  general,  its  extension 
into  a  battle  line,  and  the  capture  of  the 
enemy's  outposts. 

The  old  prospector  from  California,  British 
Columbia,  Australia,  or  South  Africa  formed 
only  a  small  percentage  of  those  who  entered, 
with  the  enthusiasm  of  children,  a  world  of 
effort  quite  new  to  them.  The  village  loafer 
and  the  ne'er-do-well  son  of  the  banker  became 
partners  on  the  trail.  Mechanics  who  had 
mortgaged  homes  bought  with  savings  from 
their  wages  to  buy  an  outfit,  rubbed  elbows  with 
broken-down  speculators  and  business  men  who 
hoped  to  recover  all  that  they  had  lost  by  find- 
ing a  placer  mine.     The  farmer,  the  clerk,  the 

164 


ri--a«. 


ars,  for 
)a\vson 
^ncrals, 
king  a 
rugged 
flotilla 
I  forest, 
;ountry 
I  tropi- 
3od  ex- 
e  more 
sing  of 
tension 
of  the 

British 
Formed 
ntered, 
)rld  of 
loafer 
pecame 
|o  had 
from 
7S  with 
nwho 
y  find- 
rk,  the 


« 


On  tlie  Pass. 


I' 


\ 


■h 


PILGRIMS'  TRAILS  AND  TRIALS 

artisan,  and  the  city  or  the  provincial  day 
laborer  of  the  Eastern  States,  Eastern  Canada, 
and  England,  were  as  confident  of  success  as 
their  associates  who  had  learned  in  the  severe 
school  of  the  plains,  the  veldt,  or  the  bush  how 
to  preserve  life  and  health  in  a  new  country. 
If  they  had  not  swung  a  lariat  or  a  pioneer's 
axe,  they  had  at  least  beaten  someone  in  walk- 
ing or  rowing  or  had  gone  longer  without  eat- 
ing than  any  of  their  immediate  friends. 

Of  the  eighty  thousand  who  left  their  homes 
for  the  Klondyke  in  the  wint  r  of  1897- 
98  and  the  spring  of  1898,  some  thirty-five 
thousand  arrived  at  Dawson.  The  battle  was 
not  always  to  the  strong.  More  important 
than  physical  strength  were  determination  and 
cheerfulness.  Those  who  failed  were  as  pecul- 
iarly Anglo-Saxon  as  those  who  succeeded ; 
for  they  had  the  restlessness  which  impels 
one  to  seek  obstacles  but  does  not  necessarily 
provide  the  force  to  overcome  them.  Most  of 
those  who  had  endeavored  to  reach  Dawson  in 
the  autumn  of  1897  were  stranded  on  one  side 
or  the  other  of  the  passes,  where  they  had  to 
wait  through  a  dreary  winter  until  the  ice 
which  had  arrested  their  progress  should  go  out 
of  the  river.     But  only  a  small  proportion  of 

165 


,  ti 


m 


i.    :, 


;  H 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

the  whole  number  of  pilgrims  made  this  at- 
tempt. The  great  majority  planned  to  trans- 
port their  outfits  over  the  passes  in  the  early 
months  of  1898  and  build  their  boats  on  Lakes 
Linderman  and  Bennett  in  the  interval  be- 
tween good  travelling  in  a  snow-bound  country 
and  the  opening  of  navigation. 

All  pilgrims,  whatsoever  their  itineraries, 
were  grist  for  the  mills  of  the  towns  of  the 
Pacific  Coast  States  and  of  British  Columbia, 
bringing  welcome  relief  from  a  period  of  com- 
mercial depression.  Enterprising  merchants, 
chambers  of  commerce,  and  steamship  com- 
panies scattered  broadcast  throughout  the 
United  States  (whence  came  seventy  per  cent, 
of  the  pilgrimage,  ninety  per  cent,  of  it  being 
Anglo-Saxon)  pamphlets,  well  written  for  the 
purpose,  telling  "How  to  Get  to  the  Klon- 
dyke." 

The  career  of  '*  Father  "  Stanley,  of  Seattle, 
was  used  as  a  stock  illustration  of  the  unim- 
portance of  experience  to  the  prospector.  This 
lame  old  bookseller,  having  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  fanatic  in  place  of  real  strength,  had  gone 
to  the  Klondyke  in  the  spring  of  1 896.  For  a 
time    he   worked    on    the    bars    of    Stewart, 

taking  out  $10  a  day.     If  he   had  not   been 

166 


m 


PILGRIMS'  TRAILS  AND  TRIALS 


deformed  he  would  have  packed  more  food 
over  the  Pass.  Fortunately,  his  supply  ran  out 
in  September,  and  on  his  way  down  stream  to 
Forty  Mile,  where  he  hoped  to  get  more,  he 
happened  to  arrive  at  the  mouth  of  the  Klon- 
dyke  just  as  the  first  miners  from  Forty  Mile 
were  hurrying  to  the  scene  of  Indian  Charlie's 
"  strike."  As  he  could  not  walk  as  fast  as  the 
others,  they  got  all  the  claims  on  Bonanza,  and 
he  had  the  good  luck  to  get  one  of  the  best 
claims  on  Eldorado. 

A  year  later,  returning  on  the  treasure  ship 
that  brought  the  news  of  the  gieat  strike,  when 
he  entered  his  house  with  a  small  portion  of  his 
fortune — a  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  cash — 
his  good  wife,  as  the  story  goes,  was  at  the 
washboard,  where  she  had  spent  a  deal  of  her 
time  during  her  husband's  absence,  earning  a 
living  for  a  large  family.  Her  customers  com- 
ing to  make  inquiries  about  their  clothes  were 
told  to  take  whatever  was  in  the  tub  which 
they  could  identify  as  their  own.  As  for  her- 
self, she  was  boarding  at  the  hotel,  sending 
such  of  her  apparel  as  she  had  not  thrown  away 
to  the  laundry,  and,  moreover,  was  too  busy 
with  the  dressmaker  to  attend  to  any  trifling 

details  which  might  have  concerned  her  past  life. 

167 


It 


ll 


ft 
^1 


n 

«* 

lit  •'■ 

1  '1 

li- 


lt 31 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

"  In  the  frozen  fastnesses  of  the  far  North 
fortunes  nestle  in  nuggets  of  glittering  gold 
for  air* — but  the  press  agents  were  too  well 
versed  in  human  nature  to  say  that  these  fort- 
unes were  to  be  had  for  a  pleasure  trip. 
They  mentioned  hardships  which  put  up  a 
price  of  success,  thus  making  the  nuggets  more 
attractive,  and,  in  a  sense,  supporting  the  asser- 
tion of  their  existence.  Anyone  who  would 
overcome  the  hardships  might  have  a  com- 
petency for  the  trouble  of  thawing  it  out  of 
the  frozen  ground.  No  pilgrim  felt  himself  to 
be  less  courageous  and  vigorous  than  "  Father '' 
Stanley  ;  and  the  wives  of  all  pilgrims  were 
equally  certain  that,  under  similar  circum- 
stances, they  could  conduct  then.selves  with 
quite  as  much  dignity  as  Mrs.  Stanley. 

As  became  a  primer  to  wealth,  the  pam- 
phlets told  just  how  much  it  would  cost  to  reach 
Dawson  with  the  all-necessary  year's  outfit, 
going  to  the  trouble,  in  a  spirit  of  solicitude 
and  rectitude,  of  setting  down  opposite  each 
article  of  food  and  each  utensil,  whether  spade 
or  gold-pan,  or  oakum  or  pitch,  or  nails  for 
boat-building,  its  cost  in  dollars  and  cents, 
and  adding  up  a  fascinatingly  small  total 
from  a  very  tall  column  of  figures.     With  a 

i68 


>tal 
a 


PILGRIMS'  TRAILS  AND  TRIALS 

receipted  bill  for  this,  and  having  paid  his  fare 
to  Dyea  or  Skaguay,  where  he  would  disem- 
bark on  the  mainland  of  Alaska  and  begin  the 
transportation  of  his  outfit  over  the  passes,  the 
pilgrim,  although  he  was  supposed  to  have  ex- 
pended only  $300,  needed  no  more  money  to 
take  him  to  his  mine. 

It  was  not  to  the  credit  of  the  calculations 
of  the  pamphlets,  and  not  testimony,  in  all  if  it 
was  in  some  instances,  to  the  success  of  the 
numerous  gambling  establishments  that  sprang 
up  at  the  point  of  mobilization  of  the  army  of 
fortune-seekers,  that  the  Seattle  post-office  did 
an  overwhelming  business  in  money-orders  in 
December,  1897,  and  January  and  February, 
1898.  The  authors  of  the  pamphlets  were  not 
called  to  account  for  their  errors.  Rather, 
they  received  the  thanks  of  their  employers. 
Once  he  was  on  the  coast,  it  stood  to  reason 
that  while  he  was  yet  sleeping  between  sheets 
and  eating  meals  cooked  by  someone  other 
than  himself  the  pilgrim  would  not  retreat  be- 
cause he  needed  a  few  more  dollars  which  were 
obtainable  from  friends  or  relatives  at  home. 

Seattle's  success  beyond  all  other  towns  in 
attracting  trade  was  due  to  a  university  gradu- 
ate and  an  author  of  works  on  art.     Having  to 

169 


V  'I 


if:  ^ 


Mm 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

give  up  journalism  in  the  East  and  seek 
health  in  the  West,  after  some  severe  tests  of 
versatility  of  earning  a  living,  he  became  Sec- 
retary of  the  Seattle  Chamber  of  Commerce. 
Such  were  the  results  of  his  knowledge  of  the 
peculiarities  of  the  Easterner,  the  Westerner, 
the  Canadian,  and  the  Englishman,  which  he 
incorporated  in  separate  pamphlets,  that  his 
employers  continued  to  raise  his  salary  from 
week  to  week  until  the  war  broke  out  and  he 
relieved  them  of  the  embarrassing  consequences 
of  their  transports  of  generosity  by  resicjning 
and  starting  for  the  Klondyke  himself  (regard- 
less of  his  doctor's  advice)  as  a  convert  of  his 
own  arguments. 

The  camp-followers  of  the  host  of  individual 
quartermasters  which  Seattle  equipped  and 
embarked,  besides  the  gambler  and  the  pick- 
pocket, included  many  men  of  elastic  consci- 
ences and  elastic  schemes,  who  had  no  capital 
but  were  ambitious  to  become  capitalists. 
Those  promising  large  dividends  on  properties 
yet  to  be  purchased  or  staked  were  common ; 
those  proposing  such  grand  things  as  running 
snow  and  ice  locomotives  over  the  hummocks 
of  the  Yukon  in  winter  were  in  some  measure 

distinguished.     In  the  corridors  of  the  crowded 

170 


PILGRIMS'  TRAILS  AND  TRIALS 


hotels  you  overheard  the  consultations  of 
"pardners"  as  well  as  the  harangues  of  pro- 
moters. 

Sacks  of  flour,  bacon,  and  beans,  the  chief 
constituents  of  the  Yukon  outfit,  were  piled  on 
the  sidewalks.  In  the  windows  of  the  stores 
were  samples  of  various  improved  edibles  and 
home  comforts  for  an  arctic  climate.  Fakirs 
on  the  curbs  proclaimed  the  merits  of  patent 
sleds,  portable  boats,  and  devices  for  thawing 
frozen  ground.  In  selecting  his  outfit,  the  pil- 
grim experienced  the  same  emotion  as  the 
young  wife  who  furnishes  a  flat.  When  he 
had  settled  on  the  kind  of  sled,  the  kind  of 
stove,  and  the  kind  of  tent  that  he  was  going 
to  take,  he  faced  the  important  question  of 
buying  dogs  or  of  drawing  his  own  supplies 
from  Dyea  or  Skaguay  to  the  lakes.  If  he 
had  money  enough  he  usually  fell  a  victim  to 
the  speculators,  who  sold  the  house  dogs  that 
they  had  shipped  into  Seattle,  after  a  few  days' 
training  in  harness,  for  fifty  dollars  apiece. 

The  last  article  of  his  outfit  bought,  he 
waited  for  his  steamer  to  sail,  while  his  hotel 
bill  grew  apace.  Liberal  navigation  laws,  at  all 
times  carelessly  enforced,  in  these  piping  times 
of  prosperity   became    a  dead  letter.     Every 

171 


! 


n 


pi  ' 

r  ' 

r' 

■•' 

It 

li: 

II 


ilili 


i'l!''      ! 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

available  sailing  and  steam  craft  in  the  Pacific 
marine,  which  is  comparatively  small  and  is 
largely  recruited  from  the  Atlantic  seaboard, 
was  called  into  service  by  the  demands  of  the 
pilgrimage.  Fortunes  were  made  in  two  or 
three  trips  of  vessels,  which  had  been  con- 
demned as  unseaworthy  years  before.  To  get 
all  the  passengers  they  could  carry  they  had 
only  to  offer  transportation  for  a  pilgrim  and  a 
ton  of  supplies  at  a  little  less  exorbitant  price 
than  any  of  their  rivals. 

Inexperienced  pilots  steered  many  vessels  on 
to  rocks  in  the  tortuous  and  narrow  channels 
between  the  barren  and  mountainous  islands  of 
the  Alexander  Archipelago  which  skirt  the 
coast  of  British  Columbia  and  the  adjoining 
territory  of  southeastern  Alaska.  Pilgrims  not 
yet  embarked  were  too  anxious  about  their  own 
departure  to  think  of  the  miseries  of  tnose  who 
had  suffered  from  exposure  and  lost  their  out- 
fits, if  not  their  lives.  Rarely  did  the  best 
steamers  leave  within  less  than  a  week  of  their 
appointed  sailing  time.  In  loading  them  there 
was  little  discrimination  or  even  classification. 
Quarters  of  beef  for  the  restaurants  of  Dyea 
and  Skaguay,  dogs  in  crates  and  in  leash,  mules 
and  bales  of  hay,  were  put  on  the  decks  after 

Z78 


i    r. 


auU' 


B 

5 

<u 


'Cl, 


1» 


6 


|H 


!ll  i  '1 
1          11      1 

1 
1^ 

1      ^ 

't 

3    t- 


PILGRIMS'  TRAILS  AND  TRIALS 

the  hold  was  filled.  Considering  the  experi- 
ences of  a  volunteer  army  with  a  single  quarter- 
master, better  things  were  scarcely  to  be  ex- 
pected of  a  volunteer  army  composed  entirely 
of  quartermasters.  The  chaos  had  the  sole 
attraction  of  not  bearing  the  stamp  of  official- 
dom. 

As  an  example  of  what  a  pilgrim  might 
suffer,  there  was  the  case  of  the  Nancy  G. 
When  I  left  Seattle  on  February  15th,  on  the 
Nancy  G.'s  mast  still  fluttered  the  torn  ends  of 
a  cloth  sign  with  fast-fading  red  letters :  "  This 
fine  schooner  in  the  tow  of  a  powerful  ocean 
tug,  will  positively  sail  foi  Dyea  on  January 
25th."  Every  day  the  passengers  went  down  to 
the  pier  to  see  if  their  outfits  were  still  on 
board  and  to  see  how  repairs  were  getting  on. 
A  man  with  a  hammer  in  one  hand  and  some 
oakum  in  the  other  came  out  of  the  hold. 

"  You  needn't  cuss  me,"  he  said.  "  A 
schooner  that's  been  resurrected  after  five  years 
in  the  graveyard,  ain't  what  she  was  when  she 
was  new,  and  you  oughter  know  it.  Every 
minute  I  lose  caulkin'  up  the  old  girl  's  corn 
out  of  your  own  crops." 

Afterward  they  went  to  see  the  owner,  who 
received  their  complaints  with  an  air  of  disdain, 

173 


III 


■  ?'• 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

refused  to  return  the  amount  that  they  had 
paid  in  fares  for  the  good  reason  that  he  had 
their  signatures  to  a  contract  for  January  25th 
or  thereabouts,  and  warned  them  in  their  own 
interests  that  "thereabouts"  was  a  very  elastic 
word. 

"  And  I'll  tell  you  something  else,"  he  said. 
"  If  you  talk  to  me  in  this  way  much  more,  I'll 
have  you  up  for  riot.  If  you  want  to  lose  a 
gold  mine  and  go  to  jail,  that's  your  business 
and  not  mine." 

The  owner  was  a  small  man — a  small  man 
who  had  spent  his  life  in  the  new  towns  of  the 
West.  The  passengers  were  mostly  hulking 
Swedes  from  the  lumber  camps  of  Minnesota 
and  Wisconsin.  They  longed  to  lay  their 
strong  hands  on  him  for  just  a  moment.  But 
it  was  hard  to  lose  a  gold  mine,  and  they  hadn't 
enough  money  to  pay  for  passage  on  another 
steamer.  So  they  slouched  out  of  the  owner's 
presence  more  in  sorrow  than  in  anger.  I 
heard  afterward  that  the  Nancy  G.  finally 
started  on  February  20th.  Fate  was  so  kind  to 
her  passengers  that  she  did  not  sink  until  the 
return  journey.  They  were  more  fortunate 
than  two  hundred  of  their  fellows,  who  saw 
their  outfits  burned  on  the  vessel  which  had 

174 


PILGRIMS'  TRAILS  AND  TRIALS 


;r. 


saw 
had 


reached  Skaguay  just  in  time  to  have  disem- 
barked them  in  safety. 

To  meet  the  demands  of  the  migration  to 
the  interior,  Dyea  and  Skaguay  had  sprung  up 
as  quickly  as  a  house  of  cards.  When  Indian 
Charlie  found  his  nugget  there  was  no  building 
at  Skaguay  and  only  a  trading-store  at  Dyea 
for  bartering  with  the  Indians  and  furnishing 
any  supplies  to  an  old-time  prospector  which 
he  had  neglected  to  buy  at  Juneau.  The  two 
towns  are  situated  at  the  heads  of  either  of  two 
arms  of  the  Lynn  Canal,  which  nature  has  cut 
through  the  rock  as  man  cut  that  of  Corinth, 
upon  sandy  deposits  at  the  mouths  of  the 
Dyea  and  Skaguay  Rivers,  and  separated  by  a 
distance  of  a  mile  in  a  straight  line  over  a 
mountain  spur  or  of  three  miles  around  the 
point  of  the  spur  by  water.  This  spur,  rising 
into  high  peaks  as  it  reaches  the  summit  of  the 
main  range,  is  a  barrier  separating  the  two 
rivers  and  the  two  passes. 

Dyea  is  the  gateway  to  Chilcoot  Pass,  which 
leads  to  Lake  Linderman,  and  Skaguay  is  the 
gateway  to  the  White  Pass,  which  leads  to 
Lake  Bennett.  They  were  not,  ac>  it  appeared 
to  the  superficial  observer,  trying  to  excel  each 
other  in  wickedness,  but  in  the  amount  of  bus- 

175 


I' 


TT 


I 


in 


if 


■ 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

iness  that  they  could  do.  Anyone  who  had 
been  a  resident  of  either  town  a  single  day 
considered  it  his  duty  to  warn  you  as  a  friend 
against  the  rival  town  and  the  rival  pass.  In  a 
week  he  had  become  an  old  citizen.  The  small 
proportion  who  were  on  hand  for  the  rush  of 
the  late  summer  and  autumn  of  1897  were  as 
proud  as  Lord  Mayors.  Then,  thousands  of 
pack-horses,  earning  ptS  high  as  $50  apiece 
a  day,  died  from  the  exertions  to  which  they 
were  forced  by  their  owners.  In  the  win- 
ter their  bones  sticking  up  through  the  snow 
were  snags  to  catch  the  sleds  of  the  pilgrims. 
Instead  of  a  series  of  steps,  the  packers  on  Chil- 
coot  had  to  walk  around  bowlders,  slipping  on 
the  fragments  of  crumbling  rock,  and  possibly, 
after  all  their  exertion,  reaching  Linderman  and 
building  their  boats  only  to  have  them  blocked 
by  ice  half  way  to  Dawson,  where  they  were 
effectually  stranded  with  their  outfits. 

Perhaps  every  fifth  or  sixth  house  in  the 
main  streets  was  not  a  gambling  hall  or  a  dance 
hall.  With  these  and  a  large  idle  population  it 
is  easy  to  understand  how  men  who  had  a  few 
dollars  in  cash  when  they  arrived  were  obliged 
to  sell  their  outfits  and  return  home.  The  en- 
forcement of  law  was  in  the  hands  of  a  United 

176 


PILGRIMS'  TRAILS  AND  TRIALS 


the 
dance 
on  it 

few 
liged 

en- 
nited 


States  commissioner  and  three  or  four  deputy 
marshals.  The  commissioner  was  a  gentle  opti- 
mist who  spent  most  of  his  working-hours  in 
an  office  with  a  window  looking  out  on  the 
river  and  the  mountain  side,  where  he  might 
see  no  wrong-doing.  **  Soapy  "  Smith,  gambler, 
by  self-appointment,  was  Mayor  of  Skaguay  and 
General-in-chief  of  the  Army  of  Disorder,  com- 
posed of  characters  from  San  Francisco  and 
Seattle,  who  had  no  money  left  after  their 
fare  to  Alasl'ia  was  paid  and  were  looking  for 
something  to  turn  up.  When  an  atrocious  mur- 
der was  committed  by  one  of  his  followers, 
"  Soapy  "  told  a  body  of  protesting  citizens  that 
they  would  better  mind  their  own  business.  As 
his  army  outnumbered  theirs  and  was  better 
armed,  they  accepted  his  advice.  The  United 
States  sent  out  two  companies  of  infantry,  with 
instructions  from  the  authorities  at  Washington 
that  they  should  not  interfere  with  the  affairs 
of  the  two  towns  unless  there  was  a  riot.  The 
Commissioner,  seeming  to  regard  their  presence 
as  an  intrusion  on  his  rights,  never  asked  for 
their  assistance.  No  murders  or  highway  rob- 
beries were  committed  within  sight  of  his  little 
window.  In  time,  however,  "Soapy"  Smith 
met  the  death  that  he  deserved  at  the  hands 

177 


;i' 


i' 


J 


m 


m 


1 1  IMl 


»  !' 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

of  one  of  his  followers,  and  through  the  efforts 
of  the  merchants  and  the  better  element  the 
towns  became  more  orderly. 

Not  every  pilgrim  who  returned  home  was 
the  victim  of  gamblers  and  other  parasites. 
For  two  or  three  days  he  might  stop  at  one  of 
the  hotels  until  he  selected  the  parcels  of  his 
outfit  from  the  piles  which  had  been  thrown 
indiscriminately  on  the  shore  by  common  car- 
riers in  haste  to  have  done  with  their  contracts. 
Then,  with  his  tent,  his  stove,  and  a  cook-book, 
which  was  the  gift  of  a  baking-powder  com- 
pany, his  journey  began  in  earnest.  The  novelty 
of  making  his  first  flapjacks  wore  off  by  the 
time  he  had  washed  his  dishes  the  second  or 
third  time.  It  was  not  long  before  he  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  fellow  whom  he  had 
chosen  to  share  all  of  his  sorrows  and  joys  was 
lazy.  He  blamed  his  own  disinclination  to  rise 
in  the  morning  and  all  his  little  failures  upon 
him,  as  some  men  do  upon  their  wives.  When- 
ever he  had  a  chance  he  solaced  his  wounded 
spirits  by  telling  a  stranger  that  he  had  put  up 
with  doing  all  of  the  work  of  his  party  about 
as  long  as  he  could. 

Partnerships  formed  so  gayly  in  Seattle  by 
men  who  thought  that  being  a  partner  was  be- 

178 


PILGRIMS'  TRAILS  AND  TRIALS 

ing  a  playfellow,  could  not  be  expected  to  last 
long  at  pulling  sleds  through  the  slush  and  go- 
ing to  bed  in  a  robe  or  a  sleeping-bag  which 
was  cheap  and  inefficient,  with  a  supper  of 
sandwiches  made  of  sticky  flapjacks  and  cold 
bacon.  As  he  grew  more  angry  with  his  part- 
ner he  grew  fonder  of  his  dog.  Jim  might 
beat  his  poor  Newfoundland,  who  was  too  ner- 
vous to  pull  even  if  he  had  ever  been  taught 
how  ;  he  might  put  up  with  a  poor  dinner  ;  but 
if  Tom,  who  was  cooking,  kicked  the  New- 
foundland for  stealing  the  bacon  off  the  plate 
or  sticking  his  nose  in  the  butter,  it  was  the 
last  Ftraw.  He  demanded  a  division  of  goods 
on  the  spot.  But  quarrels  seldom  resulted  in 
blows,  because  they  occurred  when  the  men 
were  too  tired  to  do  more  than  join  in  a  con- 
test of  forcible  language. 

It  was  the  man  who  leaves  the  door  ajar 
at  home  who  went  to  bed  without  washing 
his  dishes.  The  Easterner  now  learned  that, 
while  he  might  know  things  that  the  Westerner 
did  not,  the  Westerner  knew  better  than  he 
how  to  take  care  of  himself.  The  Westerner 
always  cooked  a  warm  supper,  and  dried  his 
footwear  before  going  to  work  in  the  morning; 
while  the  self-neglect  of   the  Easterner  made 

179 


>:  I 


i 


l!, 


];>■ 


iiii 


w 


ll 

'■    :       i 

%  ■■' 

%  ■ 

I 

::'! 

i- 

W" 

\ 

ll!!::; 

iN 

IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

hundreds  of  doctors  at  Dyea  and  Skaguay  the 
busiest  in  the  world.  Spinal  meningitis  was 
often  the  penalty  of  sitting  down  to  rest  when 
dripping  with  perspiration  without  throwing  a 
coat  over  the  shoulders. 

Even  after  their  goods  were  on  the  summit 
of  the  Pass  and  the  worst  of  their  labors  were 
over,  many  pilgrims  gave  up  the  battle.  One 
by  one  they  were  thinned  out  until  only  thirty- 
five  thousand  were  ready  with  their  boats  when 
the  ice  broke  in  Bennett.  This  far  I  had 
shared  their  experiences  and  then  had  gone 
on  ahead.  Mine  was  the  privilege  of  having 
been  a  Cheechawko  and  at  the  same  time 
standing  on  the  river  bank  as  an  old-timer 
or  among  old-timers,  to  watch  the  arrival  of 
the  pilgrimage  in  its  unpainted,  unique  flotilla. 


;,? 


1 80 


X 


PROFITS   AND  LOSSES 


NiwsPAPERS  AS  Profit-Winners— Hearing  about  Dewey — A 
Drop  in  Eggs— Market  Items — Lemons  against  Scurvy — 
The  Mercury  at  iio  degrees — An  Averted  Moving  Day 
— Industrious  Scavengers — The  Klondyke  Itself— As- 
pects OF  Summer — Bandanna  Hats  and  Pink  Lemonade 

— A  ReSI  AURANT  TRUST — ^THE  GRASSHOPPERS   AND  THE  ANTS 

— Disillusions. 

IT  was  only  to  be  expected  that  the  first  boat 
of  the  season  to  shoot  around  the  bend 
above  Dawson  and  raise  a  shout  which  would 
bring  all  the  population  to  the  shore  would  be 
manned  by  a  resident  of  Seattle  with  the  name 
of"  his  beloved  town  painted  on  a  huge  streamer 
fU  mg  from  the  mast.  Enterprising  citizens 
f  'he  far  West  such  as  he  owned  the  stores 
at  Dyea  and  Skaguay,  the  pack- mules  on  the 
trail,  the  restaurant  tenlc  whict  had  sprung 
up  in  Sheep  Camp,  and  then,  following  the 
pilgrimage  on  to  Linderman  and  Bennett, 
generally  made  money  out  of  the  Klondyke 
Without  having  to  use  a  spade,  because  of  their 

l8i 


■  W 


1 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 


S  ■;■• 


iv  ' 


if 

j 

1 

■ 

(i 

1 

m 


1! 


knowledge  of  the  life  and  necessities  of  new 
communities.  This  proud  Seattleite  with  the 
boat  had  two  hundred  dozen  of  nominally 
"  fresh "  eggs  to  sell,  for  which  he  received 
$3,6oo  within  less  than  an  hour  after  he  had 
landed.  Those  of  the  crowd  who  could  afford 
it  hurried  off  to  the  restaurant  for  a  "  squar'  " 
composed  entirely  of  "  ham  and  ".  The  ethers, 
having  to  e  their  time  until  luxuries  were 
cheaper,  fouud  compensation  in  the  items  of 
news  which  were  passed  from  tongue  to  tongue 
— for  it  had  not  occurred  to  the*  Seattleite  to 
bring  a  newspaper  with  him. 

"  Thought  there  was  more  money  in  eggs," 
was  his  aggravating  explanation.  "'Sposed 
you  fellers  wanted  to  eat,  not  read." 

As  he  had  heard  it,  within  a  week  after  the 
declaration  of  war  with  Spain,  the  cruiser  New 
York,  Captain  Evans  in  command,  had  re- 
duced the  fortifications  of  Havana  in  three 
hours.  The  second  Cheechawko  to  arrive 
assured  us  that  this  was  quite  untrue,  and  that 
two  of  Admiral  Sampson's  squadron  had  been 
sunk  and  the  Spaniards  were  winning  on  every 
banc'  The  crowd  refused  to  believe  anything 
of  the  kind,  and  the  second  Cheechawko  re- 
ceived only  $14  a  dozen  for  his  eggs. 

183 


J' 
'ill 


4'4  hi  I 


c 
o 

a 

rt 

O 


> 


<: 
>> 

Z 


o 

C 


i  ! 


i ;    If 


i 


I 


m 


■BV 


^        III 


11 


'|i 


m  ■ 

,■(1  -■■' 
'I 


IP* 

I 

I 
if 

If  I 
^-  I 


PROFITS  AND  LOSSES 

With  the  next  boat  came  a  single  newspaper, 
soiled  with  bacon  grease.  A  curbstone  specu- 
lator bought  it  for  $15,  stuffed  it  instantly  into 
his  inside  coat  pocket,  and  a  few  minutes  later 
was  posting  signs  to  the  effec*^  that  all  might 
hear  the  news  of  Admiral  Dewey's  victory  read 
by  paying  a  dollar  a  piece  that  evening.  His 
entertainment  would  have  netted  him  twice  as 
much  as  it  did  if  more  than  three  hundred 
and  fifty  people  could  have  been  packed  in  the 
hall  in  which  it  was  held.  Some  of  the  wealthy 
men  considered  this  proceeding  an  outrage  on 
personal  liberty  and  made  it  a  point  to  buy  be- 
tween them  any  single  copy  of  a  paper  later 
than  any  others  that  had  arrived  and  have  it 
read  at  once  in  the  streets. 

Never  did  contrast  better  illustrate  the  com- 
parative reliability  of  even  the  most  unreliable 
of  modern  newspapers.  All  winter  the  camp 
had  not  had  so  much  as  a  small  hand  printing- 
press,  and  news  was  carried  solely  by  word  of 
mouth.  Most  miners  have  the  weakness  of 
exaggeration.  With  some  it  is  unconscious. 
Others  enjoy  testing  a  hearer's  credulity. 
Twice,  up  the  creeks,  I  heard  that  the  Conti- 
nent had  declared  war  against  England  and  the 
United  States ;  in  the  second  instance,  the  de- 

183 


I     . 


U  ll 


I'' 

i 


I 


I 

\ 
If 

u 


iiiii 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

tail  of  an  Anglo-American  naval  victory  off  the 
coast  of  Bohemia  perhaps  was  supplied.  Such 
rumors  were  the  natural  fruit  of  the  desire  of 
Americans  and  Englishmen  to  pay  compli- 
ments to  one  another  at  a  juncture  when  the 
Anglo-Saxon  alliance  of  the  Klondyke  was 
quite  ready,  without  any  assistance  from  Lon- 
don or  Washington,  to  stand  in  arms  against 
the  whole  world. 

Within  a  week  some  thirty  boats  all  bring- 
ing merchandise  had  arrived.  In  momentary 
anxiety  of  being  lodged  on  a  sandbar,  without 
stopping  to  make  camps,  their  crews  bending 
to  the  oars  night  and  day,  they  had  raced  with 
one  another  to  the  goal  of  high  prices.  Too 
many  had  placed  their  speculative  trust  in  eggs. 
After  all,  there  were  only  four  hundred  work- 
ing claims,  and  the  stomachs  of  each  of  their 
owners,  and  of  the  chief  gamblers  and  business 
men,  were  little  if  any  larger  than  that  of  the 
average  human  being.  Eggs  fell  in  five  days 
from  $i8  to  $4  a  dozen  and  finally  to  $3. 

A  stock  of  fine  millinery  and  ladies*  apparel, 
sold  to  the  women  of  the  town,  gave  to 
one  fellow  a  profit  of  $5,000.  The  first  con- 
densed milk  to  arrive  brought  $  i  a  can ;  the 

first   butter,   $2.50  a    pound;   the   first   ham, 

184 


PROFITS  AND   LOSSES 


the 
days 


$1.25  a  pound,  and  the  first  sugar,  $1.50  a 
pound.  Lemons  were  more  in  demand  in  a 
scurvy-ridden  country  than  oranges  and  ba- 
nanas and  sold  for  double  their  price,  which 
was  seventy-five  cents  apiece.  But  the  happiest 
of  all  the  newcomers  was  the  one  who  had  the 
only  boat-load  of  boots  for  a  community  which 
was  miserable  in  moccasins  in  warm  weather. 
He  received  $15  a  pair  for  fifteen  hundred  pairs 
which  had  cost  him  $1.75  a  pair  in  Montreal.  A 
five-cent  bottle  of  ink  cost  $1  ;  a  fifteen-cent 
golf  cap,  $2.50 ;  a  pen-holder,  fifty  cents — the 
smallest  amount  of  dust  that  anyone  cared  to 
weigh  out ;  socks  $2  a  pair  ;  a  broad-brimmed 
summer  hat,  $20  to  $40  ;  a  small  whisk  broom, 
$2.50;  a  ready-made  suit  of  clothes,  from  $50 
to  $200 ;  canned  roast  beef,  $2.50  a  can ; 
canned  oysters,  a  great  luxury,  $5  for  a  pound 
or  pint  can,  and  cigars,  fifty  cents  to  $1  apiece. 
Against  the  profits  which  such  prices  repre- 
sented the  speculator  had  to  set  the  original 
cost  of  the  articles,  the  expense  of  transporting 
them  to  Dyea  or  Skaguay  and  over  the  one 
hundred  and  seventy-five  miles  to  the  foot  of 
Lake  Le  Barge,  his  own  fare  on  a  steamer  out 
of  the  country,  and  the  loss  of  from  three  to 
six  months'  time. 

185 


I  i 


Ml 


11  ;> 


4     ll 


I 


m 


f 
f 

I 

■i 


f, 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

During  the  lull  between  the  arrivals  of  the 
few  speculators  from  Le  Barge  and  the  main 
body  of  the  pilgrims  from  Linderman  and 
Bennett,  it  seemed  at  one  time  not  unlikely 
that  Dawson  might  be  carried  down  the  river 
and  a  new  town  established  on  some  sandbar. 
But  there  was  not  enough  snow  left  on  the 
mountain  sides  to  allow  the  tropical  sun,  shin- 
ing eighteen  hours  out  of  the  twenty-four  and 
raising  the  mercury  to  no  degrees,  to  accom- 
plish its  apparent  purpose.  Never  had  the  old- 
timers  known  it  to  be  so  warm  so  early  in  May, 
and  never  had  they  known  the  river  to  be  so 
high.  They  held  that  the  Lord  was  displeased 
with  the  prospective  defilement  of  the  country 
by  an  army  of  **  clerks,  farmers,  and  dudes." 
The  Indians  knew  better.  White  man  might 
be  very  cunning  in  making  a  boat  go  up  stream 
by  burning  wood  in  an  iron  box,  but  Indian 
could  tell  him  some  things  besides  how  to  kill 
moose.  Old  Indian  could  count  off  on  his 
fingers  some  twenty  years  ago  when  the  canoe- 
ing was  good  on  the  whole  town-site  of  Daw- 
son. That  was  why  Indian  never  lived  in 
Dawson  but  at  Klondyke  City. 

Day  by  day  we  saw  the  water  approaching  a 
few  inches  nearer  to  our  door-sill.     It  began  to 

i86 


inga 
an  to 


PROFITS   AND   LOSSES 

fall  just  as  we  were  thinking  of  putting  up  our 
tent  on  the  mountain  side.  Only  the  roofs  of 
some  cabins  in  Dawson  were  above  the  level 
of  the  stream.  The  suspension  bridge  be- 
tween Dawson  and  Klondyke  City,  whose 
woven  wire  cables  were  earning  two  or  three 
hundred  fifty-cent  tolls  a  day  for  their  owners, 
was  carried  away  along  with  a  great  pile  of 
debris  that  it  had  collected.  You  paid  fifty 
cents  for  being  ferried  from  one  island  to  an- 
other in  the  main  street.  Along  the  bank,  stand- 
ing in  their  boats,  pike  poles  in  hand,  were  those 
easy-going  ones  of  the  inhabitants  who  raised 
husky  dogs  for  sale,  did  a  little  freighting  in 
the  winter,  and  took  naturally  to  odd  jobs — 
and  I  might  say  to  squaw  wives — now,  in  the 
heyday  of  importance,  as  they  rowed  out  in  the 
strong  current  and  brought  in  a  tree  which  had 
been  uprooted  by  the  flood.  If  the  tree  was 
suitable  only  for  firewood  it  was  probably 
worth  a  quarter  of  an  ounce,  or  four  dollars ; 
if  large  enough  for  sawing,  half  an  our.ce. 
The  average  Klondyker's  dislike  for  such  work 
being  quite  as  strong  as  that  of  the  average 
man  at  home  for  scavenging,  the  easy-going 
had  a  free  field  and  earned  enough  in  a  few 
days  to  buy  winter  outfits  for  themselves  and 


i 


:;]     i 


Is 


I 

I  ' 

i  ' '' 

tn 

!>  - 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

their  families.  A  few  had  even  better  luck. 
They  caught  portions  of  rafts — in  two  in- 
stances whole  rafts — which  had  slipped  their 
moorings  up  the  river,  and  steering  the  sum  of 
two  or  three  months'  labor  of  men  probably- 
unknown  to  them  up  to  the  bank,  let  the 
owners  of  the  saw-mill  have  it  at  a  bargain. 

A  source  of  amusement  if  not  of  income 
was  a  ditch  in  one  of  the  back  streets,  hidden 
under  three  or  four  inches  of  water.  As  you 
stepped  into  it  up  to  your  thighs  you  heard  a 
roar  of  laughter  from  several  men  sitting  on  a 
prominence  near  by. 

"  If  you  don't  tell  your  friends,  pardner," 
said  one  of  them,  **  there's  room  up  here  for 
another,  and  you  can  enjoy  yourself  watchin' 
the  others  tumble  in." 

With  all  the  snow  gone  and  no  rainfall,  the 
Yukon  fell  as  rapidly  as  it  had  risen.  The 
thawing  and  crumbling  soft  earth  of  the  em- 
bankments of  the  upper  reaches  made  it  mud- 
dier than  the  Missouri  at  its  worst.  For  drink- 
ing water  one  had  either  to  resort  to  the 
rivulets  on  the  hill-side,  amber-colored  from 
the  moss,  or  go  to  the  Klondyke,  which,  once 
sluicing  was  nearly  finished,  became  so  clear 
that  the  bottom  was  visible  at  a  depth  of  ten 

l88 


the 

The 

em- 

nud- 

rink- 

the 
rom 
Dnce 
:lear 

ten 


o 

ri 

Si 

u 

<u 
<u 

u 


00 

o. 

s 
u 


i  (t 


J  Q 


PROFITS  AND  LOSSES 

or  twelve  feet,  while  the  eddies  and  rapids  of 
its  current  as  seen  from  the  mountain  tops, 
left  a  dark,  comet-like  streak,  stretching  from 
its  mouth  for  a  distance  of  two  or  three  miles 
on  the  cafd-au-lait  surface  of  the  mother  stream. 
By  the  fifteenth  of  June  the  river-bank  was 
lined  with  the  boats  of  the  pilgrims,  two  or 
three  deep.  A  city  of  canvas,  with  the  old 
cabins  and  buildings  as  its  heart,  extended 
until  the  neighboring  heights  were  dotted  with 
tents.  Knowledge  of  boat-building  had  turned 
out  to  be  a  misfortune,  if  anything,  for  the 
scows  moved  just  as  fast  with  the  current  and 
proved  quite  as  easy  to  manage,  I  was  told,  as 
smaller  craft  pointed  at  both  ends.  The  bow 
of  each  vessel  bore  the  number  which  had  been 
put  on  by  the  Mounted  Police  when  they 
examined  outfits  for  a  second  time  for  custom 
purposes  at  Le  Barge  or  Tagish.  Beside  it 
was  the  name  of  the  pilgrim's  home  town,  of 
his  sweetheart,  his  wife,  or  his  daughter,  put 
on  with  coal  if  he  had  no  paint.  From  the 
mast  fluttered  a  red  bandanna,  a  towel,  or  pos- 
sibly some  absurdly  elaborate  flag  which  had 
been  made  in  the  idle  hour  between  the  com- 
pletion of  the  boat  and  his  embarkation.     If 

there  were  three  in  a  boat,  which  is  the  best 

189 


WW 


1; 


H-  1 


m  i 


w 

f     l 

i   ii 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

working  number  for  a  Klondyke  party,  one  was 
in  the  bow  on  tlie  wat,chout  for  sandbars,  the 
second  was  at  the  oars,  and  the  third  in  the 
stern  with  a  sweep.  Navigation  had  its  perils, 
*oo.  The  river  as  well  as  the  Pass  had 
claimed  its  victims.  You  heard  on  every 
hand  tales  of  wrecks  in  White  Horse  Rapids 
and  in  Thirty  Mile  River,  whose  hidden  rocks 
had  proven  even  more  dangerous  than  the 
White  Horse  Rapids.  Many  a  scow  with 
merchandise  which  had  cost  its  owner  his  last 
cent  was  split  in  two,  and  those  on  board 
were  thankful  to  find  themselves  on  shore 
alive. 

In  their  camps,  the  pilgrims  found  the  mos- 
quitoes of  summer  worse  than  the  cold  of 
winter.  Fevers  and  headaches  upon  their  ar- 
rival in  Dawson  were  the  consequences  of 
exposure  under  the  sun.  It  was  even  the  fate 
of  a  few  to  be  taken  at  once  to  the  big  log 
hospital  on  the  hill-side  which  already  had 
more  patients  than  it  could  accommodate ; 
and  of  a  part  of  these  to  be  buried  in  the 
little  cemetery  beyond  the  hospital,  which  gives 
to  relatives  of  the  deceased  the  sombre  satis- 
faction of  knowing  that  its  inmates,  lying  at 
a   depth   where   the    earth   never   thaws,   are 

igo 


PROFITS  AND   LOSSES 

preserved  for  all  time — unless  the  town-sile 
itself  one  day  is  marked  by  hydraulics. 

Between  the  pilgrims  when  I  met  them  in 
Seattle  and  when  I  met  them  again  in  Dawson 
there  was  all  the  difference  of  volunteers  in 
new  uniforms  going  forth  to  war  and  the 
dust-stained  men  who  return.  Their  tents,  so 
white  and  new  in  Dyea,  had  patches  where 
holes  had  been  burned  by  sparks  or  by  care- 
lessly hung  candles.  Their  canvas  bags  of 
provender  were  the  color  of  the  Yukon. 
Their  cheap  sheet-iron  stoves  were  so  badly 
warped  that  the  oven  had  ceased  to  bake  well. 
Their  beards  were  unkempt,  their  faces  tanned. 
The  knees  of  their  trousers  proved  again  how 
helpless  a  man  is  when  alone  with  a  needle. 
Many  were  still  wearing  caps.  A  few  had 
made  substitutes  for  summer  hats  out  of  wire, 
straw,  fir  twigs,  and  a  bandanna.  If  the  Seattle 
and  the  Vancouver  merchants  could  have  seen 
the  outfits  which  they  had  sold  after  three  or 
four  months*  usage,  they  themselves  might  have 
wondered  at  the  skill  of  the  manufacturers  in 
making  little  seem  a  great  deal  by  the  use  of 
varnish. 

Very  wisely  the  Canadian  Government  had 

provided  that  every  pilgrim  entering  Cana4ian 

191 


.;   :1 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

territory  must  have  eleven  hundred  pounds,  or 
a  year's  supply  of  food.  Flour  was  the  cheap- 
est thing  to  bring  an  outfit  that  lacked  two  or 
three  hundred  pounds  up  to  the  requirements. 
Almost  without  exception  the  pilgrims  had 
failed  to  realize  the  importance  of  luxuries  in 
contributing  a  healthful  and  sustaining  diet  in 
the  North.  Flour  sold  on  July  ist,  after  the 
commercial  companies  began  to  receive  sup- 
plies, for  $6  a  sack,  but  white  sugar  sold 
for  fifty  cents  a  pound.  Everybody  had  enough 
of  staples,  but  many  had  eaten  all  their  sugar- 
the  larger  part  of  their  dried  fruits,  soup  prep, 
arations,  and  canned  delicacies  and  smoked  or 
chewed  all  of  their  tobacco.  It  was  easy  to 
promise  themselves  on  the  trail  that  if  they 
indulged  themselves  in  "  something  good " 
after  a  hard  day's  work  they  could  buy  more 
of  the  same  article  in  Dawson.  For  they  were 
certain  that  a  great  many  of  their  comrades 
intended  to  sell  their  outfits  and  leave  the 
country  at  once — so  many  of  their  comrades 
did.  But  they,  too,  had  eaten  all  their  butter 
and  evaporated  eggs  and  kept  any  tobacco  they 
had  lest  they  should  run  out  of  it  on  the  way 
home. 

Pilgrims  who  had  goods  to  sell  hastened  to 

192 


^ 


PROFITS  AND  LOSSES 

find  a  niche  for  a  booth  on  the  busy  main 
street,  where  you  could  buy  peanuts  and  pink 
lemonade,  or  the  substantial  of  eating  ;  patent 
leather  ^hoes,  yellow-backed  novels,  and  cheap 
jewelry,  or  the  substantials  of  wearing  apparel. 
The  six  restaurants  formed  a  trust  and  kept  the 
price  of  a  meal  up  to  $2.50.  In  furnishing 
them  with  meat,  the  men  who  had  used  oxen 
for  drawing  their  outfits  up  to  the  Scales  and 
again  to  draw  them  over  the  lakes,  now  had 
reason  to  laugh  back  at  the  friends  who  had 
scoffed  at  them  for  thinking  that  any  animal 
except  a  dog  or  a  mule  was  useful  in  Alaska. 
An  ox  sold  for  $700  or  $800  and  was  butchered 
at  once  before  it  had  a  chance  to  eat  any  more 
hay — which  was  worth  $100  a  ton — while  the 
rich  men  stood  by  to  see  that  they  got  the  ten- 
derloin. Besides  beefsteak,  we  had  moose- 
steak.  One  moose,  who  had  possibly  come 
back  to  his  old  pastures  out  of  curiosity,  was 
shot  with  a  revolver  only  a  mile  out  of  town. 
His  slayer,  who  met  him  ambling  along  the 
white  man's  trail  as  if  he  were  on  a  stampede 
to  some  new  creek,  sold  his  carcass  for  $500. 

Carpenters  got  employment  at  $15  a  day 
on  some  one  of  the  new  dance  halls,  saloons, 

and  stores  which  were  being  built  as  fast  as 

193 


Si  • 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

green  lumber  for  their  construction  could  be 
obtained.  Pilgrims  without  any  trade,  if  they 
were  wise,  immediately  secured  logs  and  built 
a  cabin,  which  served  them  at  once  as  a  tem- 
porary hon^e,  a  storehouse  for  their  supplies, 
and  assured  them  warmth  and  shelter  when 
winter  should  come.  But  the  grasshoppers  were 
far  more  numerous  than  the  ants.  The  debil- 
itating climate  of  summer,  joined  with  the  in- 
decision of  whether  to  leave  the  country  or 
to  remain,  of  whether  to  go  down  the  river  to 
the  American  side  or  up  the  river  to  Stewart 
if  they  did  remain,  supplied  the  majority  with 
a  good  excuse  for  idleness.  Some  did  not 
even  put  up  tents  on  the  shore,  but  kept  house 
in  their  boats  which  they  had  moored  to  the 
bank.  They  sat  on  logs  discussing  their  experi- 
ences in  shooting  the  rapids,  and  they  kept 
watch  of  the  new  arrivals  for  the  purpose  of 
guying  anyone  who  had  started  before  them- 
selves but  had  arrived  later. 

There  was  something  pitiful  as  well  as  ri- 
diculous in  the  disappointment  of  the  pilgrim 
who  had  believed  everything  that  he  read  in 
the  press-agents*  pamphlets,  to  find  that  a  rich 
claim  was  not  to  be  had  for  working  it.     When 

he  put  his  new  gold-pan  and  a  pack  on  his 

X94 


PROFITS  AND   LOSSES 


In 


rich 
hen 
his 


back  and  went  up  the  trail  to  the  creeks,  where 
possibly  he  found  a  few  colors  in  a  rivulet,  the 
old-timers  laughed  at  him  and  asked  him  if  he 
liked  prospecting  well  enough  to  pan  ground 
that  was  staked  two  years  ago.  If  he  carried  a 
revolver  they  begged  him,  please  not  to  shoot 
them.  Wearily,  and  with  all  his  visions  dis- 
pelled, he  returned  to  Dawson.  His  tent  was 
no  protection  from  the  sun  of  midday.  At 
night  the  light  made  it  difficult  for  him  to 
sleep.  As  he  fried  his  fat  bacon  he  could  not 
help  thinking  that  it  was  just  strawberry  time 
on  the  "  outside." 

Few  pilgrims  had  any  money  and  those  who 
had  were  inclined  to  spend  it  on  the  luxuries 
which  their  palates  craved.  They  walked  up 
and  down  the  main  street  like  the  crowd  at  a 
country  fair ;  looked  on  at  the  drinking  and 
gambling  of  the  successful  miners  and  mar- 
velled at  the  amount  of  dust  that  passed  over 
the  saloon-keeper's  scales  ;  and  slouched  in  and 
out  of  the  stores  of  the  two  commercial  com- 
panies to  see  the  bulletin  board,  which  had  the 
list  of  names  of  men  for  whom  letters  had 
been  received.  If  they  might  not  visit  the 
new  variety  theatre,  with  gambling  hall  and 
bar  attached,  where  actresses  from  'Frisco  and 

195 


ii! 


It 


I       ?i-!^^ 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

Seattle  sang  the  songs  of  a  local  poet  contain- 
ing spirited  references  to  the  rich  claim-owners 
— who,  in  return  for  the  compliment,  opened 
champagne  at  $30  a  bottle  between  the  "turns," 
— they  could  at  least  enjoy  the  sights  of  the 
river  bank.  In  the  absence  of  so  great  an 
event  as  the  arrival  of  a  scow  with  mules  or  the 
latest  papers  on  board,  some  "  pardners  "  were 
either  quarrelling  or  dividing  their  outfits  pre- 
paratory to  selling  them.  With  the  first 
steamer  from  down  the  river  came  the  news 
from  Circle  City,  which  meant  a  gieat  deal  to 
the  old-timers.  The  Cheechawkos  could  not 
understand  it,  but,  as  became  a  crowd  which 
gets  only  a  glimpse  into  the  inside  world,  they 
made  the  most  of  the  peeps  and  simulated 
intense  interest. 

One  day  a  midget  of  a  steamer,  the  first  to 
shoot  White  Horse  Rapids  —  her  parts  had 
been  packed  over  the  Pass  and  put  together  on 
Bennett — ran  in  between  two  scows  and  tied  up 
so  quietly  that  not  more  than  three  or  four  hun- 
dred men  saw  it.  Their  pride  was  no  greater 
than  the  disappointment  of  the  multitude,  who 
refused  to  forgive  the  captain  until  they  learned 
that  his  whistle  was  out  of  gear. 

Next  to  knowing  them  personally,  the  Chee- 

196 


PROFITS  AND  LOSSES 

chawkos  enjoyed  having  the  leading  citizens  and 
the  foremost  gamblers  pointed  out  to  them. 
They  knew  the  story  of  how  the  Eldorado  kings 
had  made  their  fortunes,  and  how  Jack  Smith 
had  once  bet  $ 7,000  on  the  turn  of  a  card.  Now 
and  then  they  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  tall,  raw- 
boned  Scotchman  who  was  the  richest  man  in 
the  country.  Two  years  before  he  had  been  a 
day  laborer  at  Circle  City.  When  the  value  of 
Eldorado  claims  was  an  uncertain  quantity  he 
bought  one  of  the  best  for  $800.  He  spent 
all  the  first  year's  output  in  buying  undeveloped 
properties,  and  then  bought  still  others  upon 
his  promise  to  pay,  which  the  miners  accepted 
without  any  written  word.  The  clean-up  had 
vindicated  his  judgment.  Now  the  fact  that  he 
had  stopped  on  a  trail  to  look  at  a  claim  was  sup- 
posed to  increase  its  speculative  value. 

And  speculation  still  continued  in  both  min- 
ing property  and  real  estate.  A  French-Cana- 
dian who  had  paid  $5  for  a  front  lot  just  after 
the  town -site  was  staked  still  held  out  persist- 
ently for  $20,000,  with  slight  prospect  of  getting 
it.  The  "  bottom  "  was  out  of  the  "  boom,"  as 
every  man  who  supported  himself  by  gambling 
or  speculation  well  knew.  No  new  strikes  were 
made  except  on  a  few  benches.    None  could  be 

197 


II. 


III 
It 


Mi  * 


Hi 


lEfi.l' 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

made  on  the  creeks  at  a  season  of  the  year  when 
the  seepage  from  the  thawing  earth  would  fill  a 
prospect-hole  as  fast  as  it  was  dug.  Autumn  and 
winter  have  ever  been  the  time  for  prospecting 
in  the  Klondyke,  and  summer  the  time  for  cabin 
building  or  for  taking  provisions  to  the  heads  of 
some  of  the  tributaries  in  poling-boats  prepara- 
tory to  prospecting. 

Roughly  but  surely  the  lesson  was  forced 
home  to  the  pilgrim  that  a  fortune  cannot  be 
made  in  the  Klondyke  in  a  hurry.  If  he  would 
have  a  claim  he  must  find  it.  Even  after  he  has 
found  it,  he  must  spend  two  or  three  years,  un- 
less he  sells  it,  taking  out  its  treasure.  If  it 
were  not  for  the  humiliation  of  facing  their 
friends  from  whom  they  had  parted  with  mer- 
ry good-bys,  nine  out  of  every 'ten  of  the 
pilgrims  would  have  returned  home  at  once. 
Thirty  per  cent,  of  them  did,  as  it  was.  Two- 
thirds  would  have  gone  if  many  had  not  loitered 
on  in  their  tents  until  it  was  too  late  to  go  ex- 
cept over  the  ice.  The  tenth  man  developed 
those  characteristics  of  patience  and  noncha^ 
lance  in  dealing  with  obstacles  which  the  veteran 
prospector  possesses  by  experience  and  by  nat- 
ure. For  such  as  lacked  \his  spirit  and  re- 
mained in  the  country  there  was  the  prospect 

198 


PI1 


ii 


ii  mer- 
)f  the 
once. 
Two- 
tered 
^o  ex- 
loped 
)ncha- 
teran 
y  nat- 
d  re- 
spect 


'] 


PROFITS  AND   LOSSES 

of  loitering  in  their  cabins  until  their  supplies 
were  eaten,  in  the  hope  of  getting  a  good  claim 
on  a  stampede,  or  of  going  to  work  for  wages. 
In  all,  the  pilgrims  must  have  spent  $30,000,- 
000,  or  $40,000,000,  on  outfits  and  transporta- 
tion. (The  output  of  gold  in  the  Klondyke 
for  the  year  was  $1 1,000,000.)  But  they  have 
paved  the  way  with  their  failures  for  the  devel- 
opment of  a  vast  expanse  of  country  whose 
abounding  wealth  is  unquestioned.  The  hard- 
ships of  a  journey  to  Dawson  are  of  the  past. 
An  atrial  tramway,  without  groans  or  perspira- 
tion, does  the  work  of  the  packers  at  one-fifth 
of  the  expense  on  Chilcoot,  and  a  railroad  car- 
ries passengers  as  well  as  freight  over  the  whole 
Pass.  Steamers  ply  on  both  the  upper  and 
lower  branches  of  the  river  connecting  at  White 
Horse  Rapids  with  others  plying  on  the  lakes. 
Hereafter,  the  mines  of  the  Klondyke  will  be 
an  established  institution,  like  the  mines  of  Cali- 
fornia, and  the  prospectors  who  go  there,  better 
fitted  for  thtir  tasks. 


1Q9 


J  I 


XI 


GOVERNMENT 


f    / 


The  Canapian  Policy  in  the  Yukon  Province— Taxes  and 
Fees — The  Gold  Commissioner's  Office — Conflicts  be- 
tween Territorial  and  Dominion  Governments — Timber 
Grants— The  Value  of  the  Mounted  Police— The  Newly 
Rich  at  Dawson— The  Order  of  the  Yukon  Pioneers — 
Mrs.  Con  STAN  tine. 

IN  its  policy  the  Dominion  Government, 
which  took  matters  out  of  the  hands  of 
the  Territorial  Government  after  the  Klondyke 
'•  boom "  jegan,  has  apparently  been  largely 
influenced  by  the  predominance  of  aliens  in 
the  Klondyke.  At  least  three-fourths  of  the 
2,000  men  in  and  around  Daws^m  in  the 
winter  of  1897-98  and  of  the  35,000  pilgrims 
of  the  spring  of  1898,  were  citizens  of  the 
United  States.  Naturally,  the  members  of 
the  Canadian  Parliament  regarded  with  dis- 
may the  prospect  that  the  nevz-found  wealth 
of  a  portion  of  their  domain  hitherto  con- 
sidered valueless  was  going  to  American  mints, 

and  that  their  constituents   would   be  paying 

aoo 


GOVERNMENT 

the  expenses  of  administration,  which,  owing 
to  the  isolation  of  the  region  to  be  governed, 
must  be  comparatively  expensive,  for  the  benefit 
of  another  country. 

Accordingly,  the  placer  rep^ions  of  rlie  Yukon 
Valley  lying  in  British  territory  were  created 
a  special  province  called  the  Yukon  District, 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Dominion  Parlia- 
ment. A  Commissioner,  with  the  powers  of 
a  dictator,  was  appointed  for  the  District,  the 
Judge  of  the  district  alone  being  responsible 
to  Ottawa  and  not  subject  to  the  Commis- 
sioner's orders.  The  other  civjl  officials  were 
a  Gold  Commissioner,  who  had  charge  of  the 
recording  of  claims,  a  Crown  Attorney,  and 
two  Mining  Inspectors  for  collecting  the  royal- 
ties. The  opportunities  of  the  officials  for 
their  own  aggrandizement  were  exceptional 
by  reason  of  the  system  of  taxation  devised. 
On  the  output  of  all  claims  a  royalty  of  ten 
per  cent,  was  collected.  Every  pilgrim  had 
to  take  out  a  mining  license  at  a  cost  of  $io. 
For  having  a  claim  recorded  a  fee  of  $  1 5  was 
charged.  Every  alternate  claim  on  all  new 
discoveries  was  reserved  to  the  Crown,  thus 
depriving  the  community  of  half  the  reward 

of  enterprise.     These  restrictions  drove  a  great 

201 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 


m 


many  experienced  American  prospectors  to  the 
other  side  of  the  boundary  line  and  at  the 
same  time  served  the  inexperienced  as  an  ex- 
cuse for  returning  home. 

Major  J.  M.  Walsh,  who  was  chosen  Com- 
missioner, did  not  go  to  Dawson  in  the  autumn 
of  1897.  His  corps  of  civil  officials  preceded 
him  while  he  remained  behind  in  camp  on  the 
Lewes  Lakes,  with  a  considerable  force  of 
police,  in  order  to  escort  to  Dawson  the  United 
States  Relief  Expedition. 

Among  the  foremost  charges  of  maladmini- 
stration made  against  the  civil  officials  was  the 
one  in  connection  with  the  water  front,  data 
of  which  were  given  to  me  by  several  leading 
men.  The  Canadian  law  provides  that  the 
main  street  of  a  new  town  shall  be  at  all  points 
a  certain  distance  from  the  bank  of  the  river. 
In  order  not  to  have  a  crooked  main  street, 
the  men  who  staked  the  town-site  of  Dawson 
agreed  to  follow  this  measurement,  from  the 
greatest  indentation  of  the  bank,  in  a  straight 
line.  Those  who  bought  lots  on  the  main 
street  supposed  that  they  were  securing  river 
frontage,  which  is  invaluable.  The  spring  of 
1898  however,  saw  a  long  row  of  buildings 
whose  back-doors  were  toward  the  river  and 


20a 


wm   ;;1 


GOVERNMENT 

which  faced  the  original  row.  The  officials 
had  let  the  water-front  to  an  individual  for  a 
nominal  sum  in  the  name  of  the  Government. 
The  sub-lessees  said,  with  a  shrug  of  their 
shoulders,  that  they  did  not  care  to  say  to 
whom  they  paid  their  heavy  rents,  and  that 
they  were  satisfied  as  long  as  they  were  left 
undisturbed. 

Captain  Constantine,  who  had  been  trans- 
ferred from  the  charge  of  the  police  at  Forty 
Mile  to  the  same  position  at  Dawson,  was  an 
old  fashioned  executive.  His  departure  in  the 
summer  of  1898  was  agreeable  to  him  as  well 
as  to  the  other  officials,  because  he  was  alone 
among  uncongenial  company.  He  understood 
the  miners ;  and  they  knew  that,  though  gruff, 
he  was  honest  and  incorruptible.  Even  the 
lawless  ones  admitted  this  much ;  for  in  no 
community  is  simple  integrity  enforced  by  a 
strong  will  better  appreciated  than  in  a  mining- 
camp.  Had  he  been  retained  as  administrator 
of  the  whole  district,  with  the  power  to  choose 
his  own  assistants,  Dawson  would  have  been 
a  phenomenally  well-governed  settlement  from 
the  start,  and  the  development  of  the  great 
wealth  of  the  region  would  have  been  less  re- 
tarded.    Instead  of  men  who  had  spent  their 

203 


i  '\ 


w 

'Ml . 


m 


^U 


t 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

lives  among  pioneers,  the  Dominion  Govern- 
ment sent,  as  the  reward  for  party  service,  men 
whose  experience  was  limited  to  local  politics 
at  home.  With  hundreds  of  experts  to  choose 
from  in  British  Columbia,  an  ex-captain  of  a 
whaler  and  an  ex-livery-stable-keeper  were 
made  inspectors  to  collect  the  royalty  of  lo  per 
cent,  on  an  output  of  eleven  millions  of  gold. 

Considering  the  expense  of  recording  a 
claim,  the  owners  of  claims  and  the  prospec- 
tors had  at  least  the  right  to  expect  from  the 
Gold  Commissioner's  Office  reasonable  atten- 
tion to  duty.  To  have  posted  in  a  public  place 
a  detailed  n'iap  of  the  district,  with  all  claims 
and  the  names  of  their  owners  recorded,  would 
have  required  little  labor  and  no  expense ;  but 
it  would  have  ruined  the  business  of  the  clerks 
in  furnishing  information.  Considering  the 
number  of  policemen  with  idle  hands,  mail  re- 
ceived in  the  summer  might  have  been  sorted 
with  dispatch  and  distributed  at  different  win- 
dows under  different  heads.  But  a  delay  of 
two  or  three  days,  and  the  prospect  of  waiting 
in  line  for  several  hours  before  one  could  even 
ask  if  there  was  a  letter  for  him,  were  strong 
incentives,  to  miners  who  wished  to  hurry  back  to 

their  claims,  to  put  a  few  dollars  into  an  itching 

204 


GOVERNMENT 

palm,  and  in  return  to  receive  immediate  atten- 
tion at  the  side-door  of  the  Post-Office. 

Unfortunately  the  arrival  of  Major  Walsh  in 
Dawson  in  the  spring  was  not  productive  of 
the  reforms  which  an  oppressed  population  had 
hoped  for.  The  acts  of  the  officials,  except 
that  of  a  representative  of  the  Northwest 
Territory  in  placing  a  tax  of  $2,000  each  on 
saloons  and  gambling-halls,  seemed  to  meet 
with  the  favor  of  the  Commissioner.  He  main- 
tained that  the  Territorial  Government  was  in- 
fringing on  the  special  powers  granted  to  him 
by  the  Dominion  Government ;  and  he  issued  an 
order  that  anyone  who  chose  might  sell  liquor 
without  any  form  of  license. 

The  buildings  on  the  water-front  stood  in 
the  way  of  even  a  primitive  system  of  sewer- 
age. Simple  sanitary  rules  were  not  promul- 
gated, much  less  enforced.  Absolutely  no  pre- 
cautions were  taken  against  the  epidemic  of 
fever,  which  was  responsible  for  so  many 
deaths.  Private  beneficence  built  the  two  hos- 
pitals, and  it  now  maintains  them  and  carries 
on  all  charitable  undertakings.  Whatever  has 
been  done  in  the  way  of  improvements  has 
been  paid  for  by  public    subscriptions.     The 

full  measure  of  the  Government's  public  spirit 

205 


i^ 

'i 

i 

1 

ill,' 

:      l 

'j^: 

i 

! 

■ 

f 

:*    ! 


m 

i: 

rl 

i 

1 

m 

1 

IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

was  the  construction  of  the  barracks  and  stock- 
ade for  the  Police  on  the  Government  Reserve. 
Had  some  of  the  money  collected  from  the 
claim-owners  and  the  prospectors  been  expen- 
ded on  constructing  trails  and  on  a  system  of 
sanitation,  there  would  have  been  less  ground 
for  complaint.  Doing  nothing  itself,  the  Gov- 
ernment often  took  the  position  of  the  dog  in 
the  manger.  The  exorbitant  price  demanded 
for  a  charter  forced  capitalists  to  give  up  the 
plan  of  building  a  railroad  from  Dawson  to  the 
mines,  which  would  have  been  invaluable  in 
cheapening  the  cost  of  mining.  After  paying 
for  timber  privileges  in  their  licenses,  the  pil- 
grims found,  to  their  dismay,  that  the  Govern- 
ment, or  the  officials,  had  given  enormous  tim- 
ber grants  in  the  neighborhood  of  Dawson  to 
individuals,  thus  putting  an  artificial  value  on 
logs  for  firewood  and  building  purposes. 

Very  properly  the  loudest  complaints  arose 
from  Englishmen,  Australians,  and  South  Afri- 
cans. If  the  new  laws  were  directed  against 
Americans,  they  injured  Canadians  and  other 
British  subjects  equally  as  much,  if  not  more. 
From  the  first,  London  regarded  the  Klondyke 
as  a  great  field  for  exploration,  and  most  of  the 
capital  represented  there  last  spring  was  British. 

206 


GOVERNMENT 

The  royalty  of  lo  per  cent,  and  the  failure  to  use 
the  money  so  collected  in  constructing  trails  have 
been,  however,  more  injurious  to  capitalistic  en- 
terprise, which  is  largely  British,  than  to  indi- 
vidual enterprise,  which  is  largely  American.  A 
poor  man  who  takes  from  $5,000  to  $50,000  out 
of  a  bench-claim  with  his  own  hands  will  not 
be  deterred  from  his  labors  by  the  royalty. 
But  10  per  cent,  on  the  gross  output  makes 
a  majority  of  company  propositions  impracti- 
cable. Often  it  will  wipe  out  a  goodly  profit, 
and  put  a  balance  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  ledger. 
As  soon  as  it  was  known  that  the  Dominion 
Government  would  not  heed  the  appeals  for  the 
abolition  of  the  royalty,  the  reaction  from  the 
"  boom  "  was  complete.  The  appointment  of 
Mr.  Ogilvie,  the  new  Commissioner,  who  has  a 
reputation  for  probity,  was  as  welcome  to  the 
aliens  as  to  the  other  residents.  He  at  once 
set  about  the  work  of  making  reforms. 

Too  much  cannot  be  said  in  praise  of  the 
personnel  of  the  Northwest  Mounted  Police — 
mounted  only  in  name,  for  they  have  not  a 
single  horse  in  the  Klondyke — which  is  largely 
drawn  from  the  ranks  of  the  young  English- 
men who  enjoy  **  roughing  it."     In  preserving 

order  they  are  good-natured  but  severe.    Male- 

207 


f 


\  ,! 


'I 


1,:: 


i 


1 1 

ill 


Iff' 


H\ 


lii. 


mi 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

factors  are  punished  with  the  commendable 
promptness  of  British  justice  ;  and  no  murderer 
in  Dawson  can  snap  his  fingers  in  the  face  of 
the  law  as  one  did  at  Skaguay.  At  Skaguay 
there  was  no  order ;  at  Dawson  too  much  civil 
government. 

For  the  first  winter,  being  populated  entirely 
by  men  from  the  old  camps,  Dawson  was,  of 
course,  largely  a  sociological  counterpart  of 
Forty  Mile  and  Circle  City,  except  that  the  ex- 
citement and  the  feverish  optimism,  which  in- 
creased as  the  new  discoveries  continued  to 
surpass  expectations,  had  hitherto  been  un- 
known in  the  valley.  The  contamination  of 
the  old  customs  began  with  the  arrival  of  the 
fifteen  hundred  madly  hastening  pilgrims  who 
succeeded  in  reaching  Dawson  before  naviga- 
tion was  closed  in  the  autumn  of  1897.  It  was 
complete  with  the  arrival  of  the  great  pilgrim- 
age with  its  element  of  toughs,  gamblers,  and 
other  parasites.  The  time  had  passed  when 
every  man  nodded  to  whomsoever  he  met. 
Dawson  had  become  a  settlement  not  of  neigh- 
bors, but,  like  Mecca,  of  strangers.  The  old- 
timers  were  developing  those  human  weak- 
nesses which  are  brought  out  in  sharp  relief  by 

the  sometimes  doubtful  blessing  of  great  and 

208 


ga- 
was 
inl- 
and 

len 
net. 


c 
o 


<u 


CO 

c 


by 
and 


m 

m 

. 

iti 

i§\  ■ 

#' 

m  ' 

^1  ^ 

It  i 

i;  : 

( 

} 

r 

V 

t 
a 
tl 


GOVERNMENT 

unexpected  success.  Practical  communism 
was  easier  for  a  man  when  he  and  his  com- 
rade were  equally  poor  than  after  chance  had 
made  him  the  owner  of  a  plot  of  creek  bed 
worth  from  $50o,cxxd  to  $i,ocx),ooo,  while  his 
comrade,  who  had  been  too  late  in  the  stam- 
pede to  stake  a  claim  on  Eldorado,  was  among 
his  employees. 

There  sprang  up  as  a  consequence  an  aris- 
tocratic social  circle  called  the  Eldorado  Kings, 
suffering,  in  a  measure,  from  the  affliction  of 
the  nouveaux  riches  of  old  communities  who 
live  miserably  under  the  suspicion  that  whoever 
approaches  them  has  an  axe  to  grind.  Yet  they 
did  not  forget  their  duties  to  their  less  fortu- 
nate fellows.  They  gave  bountifully  to  the 
churches,  to  the  hospitals,  and  for  the  care  of 
those  poor  Cheechawkos  who  lay  ill  in  their 
tents.  Upon  a  special  occasion,  the  Order  of 
the  Yukon  Pioneers — perhaps  the  death  of  a 
comrade  or  perhaps  a  church  sociable,  where 
you  bought  ice-cream  made  from  condensed 
milk  for  $2.50  a  plate — appeared  together 
wearing  broad  blue  ribands.  Foremost  among 
them  was  Jack  McQuestion.  He  was  keeping 
a  trading  post  when  the  first  prospectors  entered 

the  Yukon  Valley.     The  old  miners  came  to 

209 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

him  to  settle  disputes,  and  the  poorest  of  them 
asked  him  for  the  loan  of  an  ounce  of  dust. 

On  the  day  before  the  departure  of  our 
steamer  for  the  outside,  attired  in  their  best 
clothes  and  wearing  their  ribands,  the  old- 
timers  presented  to  Captain  Constantine  an 
address  of  appreciation  and  a  peck  of  nuggets. 
Then  Jack  McQuestion  went  over  to  the  bar- 
racks and  asked  that  Mrs.  Constantine  should 
share  with  her  husband  the  central  position  in 
a  photographic  group  of  all  the  pioneers.  She 
consented. 

The  Captain's  wife  had  been  her  husband's 
companion  during  his  service  on  the  Yukon. 
When  she  was  quite  ill  one  winter  and  had 
to  remain  in  her  cabin  from  one  short  day's 
end  to  another — with  long,  dark,  monotonous 
nights  between  them — the  kindnesses  shown 
to  her  were  not  limited  to  the  devotion  of  her 
stalwart  husband  or  the  attention  of  ruddy- 
faced  privates,  whose  Cockney  accent  told 
how  far  they  were  from  the  motherland  of 
commonplaces  and  restraints.  The  miners  who 
came  to  the  door  to  inquire  how  she  was  get-^ 
ting  on,  devised  means  of  entertaining  her  over 
their  pipes  and  cabin  fires,  and  then  were  some- 
times too  bashful  to  put  them  into  execution. 

2IO 


li 


GOVERNMENT 

For  one  thing  they  learned  by  heart  the  con- 
tents of  some  old  humorous  journals  in  camp. 
Though  she  had  been  the  first  person  to 
receive  the  journals  when  they  had  been 
brought  down  the  river  the  preceding  sum- 
mer, she  did  not  say  so,  and  listened  with 
gentle  patience  to  their  jokes  being  retold 
again  and  again. 

'*  Mrs.  Constantine,"  said  one  old-timer,  as 
he  bade  her  good-by,  -  we  ain't  much  on 
manners,  but  we  do  know  a  lady  when  we 
see  one." 


211 


liiii^ 


t!i[h 


m^M 


XII 


mm 


f 

/ 

1; 

m: 


m^- 


m: 


M- 


w- 


DOWN  THE  YUKON  AND  HOME. 

GooD-BY  TO  Dawson — The  Extinction  of  the  Unfit—Steam- 

BOATING     TO    St.   MICHAELS — MOSQUITOES    AND    SANDBARS — 

Pilgrims  by  the  All-Water  Route— Behring  Sea — Civili- 
zation Once  More. 

DESPITE  the  diet,  the  isolation,  and  the 
inhospitable  nature  of  the  county,  many 
of  the  old-timers  who  had  now  realized  the 
material  ambition  which  had  brought  them  to 
Alaska  and  were  going  home,  saw  the  great 
crowd  which  gathered  on  the  river  bank  to  bid 
our  steamer  a  pleasant  voyage,  disappear  in  the 
distance  with  a  feeling  of  regret  amounting  to 
more  than  a  momentary  pang.  From  two  to 
ten  years  had  passed  since  many  of  them  had 
seen  a  paved  street. 

"  You'll  wish  you're  back,"  and,  "You  won't 
feel  natcheral,"  t^ieir  departing  friends  called 
out  k.0  them. 

Out  of  deference  to  civilization  everyone 
had  bought  certain  of  its  habiliments.     New 

212 


DOWN  THE  YUKON  AND  HOME 

red  ties  stood  out  on  the  background  of  black 
sweaters,  and  crumpled  overalls  drooped  over 
patent  leather  shoes.  Some  had  taken  what- 
ever they  could  find  to  fit  them,  regardless  of 
cost  and  incongruity.  Others  had  halted  half 
way  in  making  out  a  wardrobe  because  they 
feared  that  they  might  not  be  getting  the  right 
styles  or  because  they  got  indignant  at  the 
prices  charged  by  the  Dawson  speculators  com- 
pared with  those  on  the  outside. 

The  dying  woman  who  was  the  mother  of 
the  first  white  baby  born  in  Dawson,  the  sal- 
low men  who  had  limped  down  from  tne  hos- 
pital just  before  the  steamer  sailed,  and  the 
Cheechawkos  who  had  sold  their  outfits  for 
just  enough  to  pay  for  passage  to  Seattle, 
where  they  would  have  to  telegraph  home  for 
railway  fare — these  had  no  regrets.  We  bur- 
ied the  woman  half  way  down  the  river,  two 
of  the  men  before  we  reached  St.  Michaels, 
and  a  third  at  sea  when  only  two  days  from 
Seattle. 

With  good  accommodations,  the  journey  of 
eighteen  hundred  miles  from  Dawson  to  St. 
Michaels  would  have  been  a  pleasure  trip.  It 
was  far  from  that  with  us,  owing  to  the  Span- 
ish-American war  and  certain   other   reasons. 

213 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 


I 

k 


The  commercial  company  which  charged  us 
$300  for  transportation  had  two  steamers  at 
Dawson.  It  held  them  there  long  enough  to 
give  us  the  questionable  satisfaction  of  seeing 
the  steamer  of  the  rival  company,  which  had 
been  delayed  in  coming  up  the  river  from  its 
winter  quarters,  arrive  and  cut  prices  before 
our  steamer,  having  room  for  seventy-five  pas- 
sengers, and  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  on 
board,  started  on  ahead  of  her  sister  steamer. 
We  were  to  act  as  a  reconnoitering  force  or 
a  buffer,  or  whatever  you  choose,  for  the  sister 
steamer,  which  had  a  dozen  lonely,  armed 
passengers  and  $2,500,000  in  dust  on  board, 
with  a  view  to  saving  her  treasure  from  a 
Spanish  privateer  if  one  were  wailmg  for  us 
at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  as  rumor  from  the 
outside  said.  Therefore,  one  hundred  pas- 
sengers had  to  sleep  on  the  floor  of  the  dining- 
room  or  on  the  lower  deck  among  the  Indians 
and  the  piles  of  firewood.  v 

Except  when  we  ate,  and  when  the  steamer 
poked  its  bow  into  the  sand  in  front  of  some 
piles  of  fire-wood  on  the  bank,  we  could  be 
fairly  comfortable  lounging  on  the  decks.  For 
the  eleven  days  which   the  journey  occupied, 

we  had  one  tablecloth  for  three  sittings  at  each 

214 


>1 


m- 


'I! 


tj-i 


DOWN  THE  YUKON  AND  HOME 

meal.  As  the  miners  had  a  general  disregard 
for  the  utility  of  dishes  for  holding  things,  the 
cloth  did  not  preserve  its  original  color,  even 
in  spots,  for  more  than  two  days.  Our  food 
was  bad  rice,  bad  bacon  and  bread,  and  old 
canned  roast  beef,  which,  however,  did  not 
count,  as  we  could  not  eat  it.  If  the  company 
had  only  allowed  us  to  use  our  fingers  instead 
of  forks  and  knives  which  men  who  were 
"working  their  fare"  out  as  waiters  washed 
indifferently,  I  should  have  been  much  happier. 
By  July,  moreover,  the  little  mosquitoes  were 
out.  They,  and  not  the  big  ones  which  come 
early  in  the  season,  understand  flying  straight 
to  the  mark  with  rigid  lance.  They  bit  the 
Indians  as  well  as  the  white  men,  but  to  no 
purpose  so  far  as  making  them  hurry  in  bring- 
ing on  the  wood.  As  soon  as  the  steamer  was 
in  midstream,  the  buzzing  mists,  which  could 
be  resisted  only  by  the  finest  netting  drawn 
over  the  head,  disappeared. 

Our  principal  stops  in  the  eighteen  hundred 
miles  were  at  Forty  Mile  and  Circle  City, 
where  the  deserted  cabins  were  being  once 
more  occupied  and  there  was  a  chance  that 
the  old  claims,  which  were  good  for  their  day, 
would  be  worked  again,  and  of  a  recrudescence 

215 


iti 


Iff 


IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

of  the  boom  ;  and  at  Minook,  where  im- 
portant discoveries  had  been  made  in  the  past 
winter.  But  we  stopped  also  at  every  little 
Indian  village — to  please  the  Indians,  one  pre- 
sumed— where  the  inhabitants  came  out  to 
meet  us  in  their  light  canoes  and  wanted  to 
sell  furs  and  trinkets.  At  many  of  these  vil- 
lages there  were  mission  houses.  We  had  on 
board  a  Russian  priest,  who  had  come  up  on 
the  steamer  from  Anvik  and  was  now  return- 
ing. He  was  bold  enough  to  say  that  he 
thought  he  needed  this  little  recreation  after 
having  been  two  years  alone  among  the 
Indians. 

We  had  left  behind  the  great  mountains 
below  Dawson,  we  had  seen  the  midnight  sun 
across  the  vast  stretches  of  flats  below  Circle 
City,  and  were  just  congratulating  ourselves 
that  our  Indian  pilot  had  led  us  through  the 
last  of  the  many  shallow  channels  in  the  flats, 
when  we  ran  on  a  sandbar.  Our  mate  and  his 
Indian  crew  labored  for  twenty-four  hours  be- 
fore we  were  off.  The  next  day  a  hog  chain 
broke  and  our  engines  were  helpless.  For  the 
rest  of  the  distance  to  St.  Michaels  we  were 
towed  by  the  ster.mer  which  carried  the  treas- 
ure and  had  the  misery  of  seeing  the  fellows 

2l6 


DOWN  THE  YUKON  AND  HOME 

who  had  started  two  days  after  us  and  paid 
less  fare  pass  us  on  the  steamer  of  the  rival 
company. 

At  St.  Michaels  we  met  three  or  four 
thousand  pilgrims  who  were  going  into  the 
Klondyke  by  the  all-water  route.  They  had 
bought  transportation  for  themselves  and  out- 
fits of  new  companies  which  had  attempted  to 
tow  flotillas  of  river  steamers  built  in  Seattle 
to  St.  Michaels.  Almost  invariably  the  river 
steamers  had  been  lost  at  sea  between  Seattle 
and  Unalaska,  and  those  who  depended  upon 
them  for  transportation  to  Dawson  were  only 
better  off  than  others  who  had  attempted  the 
journey  on  decrepit  sailing  vessels  that  had 
gone  to  the  bottom.  It  was  a  little  unkind  of 
our  passengers,  while  we  waited  for  transfer  to 
an  ocean  steamer,  to  enjoy  setting  before  them 
in  the  bluntest  phrase  an  exaggerated  account 
of  the  desperate  condition  of  all  the  newcomers 
in  Dawson. 

Behring  Sea  was  placid  as  a  lake  when  we 
crossed  it.  After  two  days  for  coaling  at  Una- 
laska and  after  five  days  on  the  Pacific,  we 
entered  Puget  Sound  on  the  morning  of  July 
19th.     Everyone  on  board  was  thinking  of  the 

steaks  and  the  fruit   that   he  would   eat   that 

217 


.  ( 

1 

'( '  "  ■ 

m'. 

:|>i 

lit-' 

1 

i 

IN  THE  KLONDYKE 

evening  for  dinner.  The  old-timers,  who  had 
heretofore  resented  the  steward's  requests  that 
they  should  not  expectorate  on  the  decks,  were 
a  little  ill  at  ease  at  the  prospect  of  the  social 
restraint  of  civilization.  Civilization  offers 
many  advantages  over  Dawson  or  Circle  City 
for  spending  a  fortune,  to  be  sure,  but  such  of 
the  old-timers  as  were  destined  to  become  poor 
again — and  the  majority  were,  I  think — would 
no  doubt  return  to  the  pick  and  the  pan  as  a 
wanderer  returns  home. 


THE    END. 


W 


Bill.;  ' 


If  if: 


2l8 


^ho  had 
sts  that 
:s,  were 
e  social 
offers 
le  City 
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BOOKS  ON  OUR  NEW  POSSESSIONS 


COMMERCIAL     CUBA 

A  Book  for  Business  Men 
By    WILLIAM  J.    CXARK 

*  «  A  THOROUGHLY  good  and  useful  book.  We  should 

*  *    not  know  where    to  find  within  another  pair  of 

*=**^"?  so  much  and  so  carefully  sifted  information 

beanng  on  this  subject.   Mr.  Clark's  painstak  ng  LTcoun" 

of  the  railway  and  telegraph  systems  ;  of  highways  and 

5f  su/aV.°nH"rH'^"^  ''^'^■'  '"PP''"'  ^"^  lighthouses; 
Hon  S^       K    ^°''^"°  Sromng  ;  and  his  detailed  descrip 
tion  of  each  province  and  of  every  city  of  any  size     o 
gether  with  a  •  business  directory  '  for  the  who^e    sfand" 
make  his  book  one  of  great  value  for  reference  as  weU  as 

iffafrs  h  ,?i^n '^^"'"-  '!;  ^he  present  situation  of  Cuban 
affairs  t  should  command  a  wide  sale.  Its  accuracy  is 
certainly  of  a  high  order."-New  York  Evening  Post^    ' 

YESTERDAYS  IN 
THE  PHILIPPINES 

By  JOSEPH  EARLE  STEVENS 

t^J^P}*!^'^^'  Illustrations  from  pfiotOKriDhs 
by  the  author.  Seventh  thousand.  lamofSi^Jo 

•  •WITH  the  observant  and  indulgent  eye  of  an  old 
raveller  Mr.  Stevens  has  seen  everything  in 
what  hP  h.cci  ""^^  '^^"^  ^^^'"8:,  and  has  described 
ic  et»  )  ?»fl"l"  '"  *  """^^  interesting  manner.  ...  All 
is  set  forth  by  the  narrator  in  a  breezy,  chatty  way  tha 
would  be  entertaining  under  any  circumstances.'^^ 

—Philadelphia  Evening  Telegraph. 


CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS,  NEW  YORK 


UV. 


II  <t 


■  I'-i;' 


& 


r/ffi  PFAR  ON  SEA  AND  LAND 


THE  CUBAN 
AND  PORTO  RICAN  CAMPAIGNS 

By  RICHARD  HARDING  DAVIS 

With  117  Illustrations  from  photosraptis  and  with 
4  maps.     Twentieth  thouaana.     lamo,  $1.50 

««TL7EVER  has  a  war  been  reported  as  this  has  been, 
1>N     and  never  has  a  history  been   written  lilte  this, 
by  one  who  saw  it  all — while  the  blood  was  hot 
and  the  memory  vivid." — New  York  World. 

•  iTpHIS  is  much  the  most  vivid  and  readable  of  all 
A  the  books  on  the  war  that  have  appeared  so  far, 
and  it  is  full  of  life  and  color  and  incidents  that 
show  the  sort  of  stuff  of  which  our  soldiers  were  made. 
The  book  is  written  with  a  keenness,  a  vivacity,  a  skill 
and  a  power  to  thrill  and  to  leave  an  impression  which 
mark  a  decided  advance  over  anything  that  even  Mr. 
Davis  has  written  heretofore." — Boston  Herald. 


t « 


OUR  NAVY  IN  THE 
WAR    WITH    SPAIN 

By  JOHN  R.  SPEARS 

Author  of  "  The  History  of  Our  Navy  " 

With  I3S  illustrations  from  photographs  and 
with   charts   and    diagrams.      lamo,    $a.oo 

MR.  SPEARS  has  plainly  put  his  best  efforts  into 
that  mighty  combat,  the  sea-Gettysburg  of  the 
war,  the  death-grapple  of  Cervera's  ships  and 
Sampson's.  His  story  of  the  action  of  July  3d  is  superb. 
It  is  the  most  lucid  and  comprehensive  description  which 
has  yet  been  laid  before  the  American  people,  and  it  is 
made  all  the  more  valuable  by  the  official  chart  of  the 
ships'  courses  which  accompanies  it.  As  a  whole,  Mr. 
Spears's  book  is  not  only  u  to  technical  details,  but  it 
IS  a  spirited  and  admirable  piece  of  literary  workmanship. 
It  is  one  of  the  few  volumes  out  of  the  many  hurriedly 
issued  in  the  wake  of  the  war  which  will  endure  the  test 
of  time  and  stand  as  a  faithful,  competent  picture  to 
future  generations." — Boston  Journal. 


CHARLES  SCRBNER'S  SONS,  NEW  YORK 


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